Reawakening
by ShinkisRule
Summary: The battle is over, but the war has just begun... Rated K-plus for violence and mayhem.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, remember how hard you cried after watching the final episode of Code: Lyoko? Then how you cried again when Cartoon Network stopped showing it forever? Well, even if you didn't cry, prepare to jump for joy as Code: Lyoko lives on! Yes, it's not a show. Yes, it's been overdone in fan fiction. No, I'm not letting that stop me. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Reawakening.**

Code: Lyoko – Reawakening

By ShinkisRule

Chapter 1

Yumi Ishiyama awoke to the sound of ear-piercing music. She quickly took out the ear buds from her ears and turned to see Hyroki. She gave him that threatening glare that she always gave whenever he irritated her.

"What?" asked Hyroki, "Mom told me to wake you up!"

"I don't think she told you to do it by blowing out my ear drums with _my_ mp3 player," Yumi said, swiping it from his hands.

"You better hurry up and get ready or you'll be late for school," said Hyroki.

Yumi noticed that he was dressed and then looked at the clock. She gasped.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" she yelled, "It's already 7:15!"

"I tried, but all you did was smack me in the arm."

"I would remember that!"

"I have it on the camera if you want proof."

"Why would you film…?! Oh, just get out," Yumi muttered.

It was so annoying having a little brother. Somehow he always knew how to get on her nerves. She didn't know how Odd could survive with so many siblings. Maybe it was because they were all older than him. It was probably also because he lived at Kadic and only had to be around his five sisters during the summer. Yumi, on the other hand, was close enough to school not to live there, and so she had to deal with Hyroki every day. At least she could get away from him during school hours, because even though he went to Kadic as well, he was in 7th grade while Yumi was a sophomore. She even sat at a different lunch table, with her mature friends who were around her age. Yumi was almost glad to go to school.

**

"I've finally figured it out," said Jeremie as he sat down in the cafeteria.

"What?" asked Odd, "How to keep your self-esteem in gym class?"

"You're hilarious," said Jeremie flatly, "No, I've figured out how to remotely control the pulley to make Yumi fly."

"Why can't you just do it manually from backstage?" Asked Aelita, "Wouldn't that be easier?"

"No way," Jeremie answered, "This play is going to be amazing and I want to be in the audience when it's performed. I can't see how great that scene will look if I'm backstage!"

"That'll be one of the hardest songs I'll have to do," said Yumi, "I don't know if I can hold that last note for so long without stopping for a breath."

Now that _Wicked_ was finally off of Broadway, Kadic's drama department could do it like they had always wanted to. It was a lot of special effects for Jeremie to put together, but he thought he could manage. He was just happy to be able to work with some of his best friends. Yumi got the lead role of Elphaba, and Aelita was Nessa. Unfortunately for Jeremie, however, Sissi was Glinda (technically, she was first Galinda and then Glinda, but that was beside the point). It was even more of a problem for Yumi because they had to act as best friends, when they actually despised each other.

Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas was just about the most stuck-up girl in the whole school. Being the principal's daughter, she thought she owned the world. She had been accepted by Jeremie and his group earlier, after their main reason to be enemies had been eliminated, but apparently she had gotten bored of being nice. Even though Yumi wouldn't admit it, Jeremie could tell she couldn't care less about their secret. The real reason she hated Sissi was because she was jealous of her. She and Sissi were constantly fighting over the affection of Ulrich.

As Jeremie was thinking about this, he imagined Sissi's shrill voice asking Ulrich to go out with her. He could almost hear it. When he went back to reality, he realized that he actually was hearing it.

"Hello, Ulrich dear," said Sissi, trying to sound charming and failing, "do you want to come sit at _my_ table?"

"I am _not_ your 'Ulrich dear,'" said Ulrich, not even looking at her.

"Wow," Odd murmured, "She thinks he's a deer."

"What did you say?" Sissi asked, looking ready to throw Odd out a window.

"I just said you're so mixed up you've mistaken Ulrich for a woodland creature," said Odd, followed by his friends' laughter.

"Shut up, oddball! Humph!"

With that, Sissi stormed off.

Jeremie sometimes wished he was as good as Odd at making snappy comebacks. He didn't usually think of things like that until it was too late to say it.

"Well, I'm going up to my dorm," Said Jeremie, "I've got some work to do."

"Oh, you always have work to do," said Aelita, "You can't do everything by yourself. I'll go with you."

**

"So, how does this thing you're making work?" Aelita asked, picking up a screwdriver.

"I've figured out how to run it on batteries," Jeremie answered, "I have it all in my head; I just need to put everything together. And I'll have to remember everything, too."

"Maybe you should make blueprints on your computer that we can follow."

"That'll help." Jeremie turned on the computer.

Aelita watched him work and helped him remember all the parts he needed to use, and suggested substitutions for certain things that she didn't consider fitting for what they were meant to do. Jeremie was about to print everything off when a pop-up appeared on the screen.

Aelita couldn't believe what she saw. This couldn't be. She must have been dreaming. What other explanation could there be? She saw what she used to see a year ago…

…When a tower had been activated.

She finally found her voice. "That's impossible…"

"We turned off Lyoko," said Jeremie, "I'm certain we did… what did we do wrong?"

"Maybe someone… or something…" Aelita suddenly lost her voice once again.

"But how could they have found it?" asked Jeremie, perplexed.

Aelita couldn't answer. She had thought this was all over. She had thought that she could finally live a normal everyday life. She had thought she was finally starting to fit in. She had been starting to feel normal. She had thought that for once, she was safe.

She was wrong.

**Dun-dun-duuuunnnn! What's going on?! How did that happen?! Even though you're not the least bit shocked that XANA's back, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?! Find out in the next chapter. Just click on the little arrow in the corner. That's it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**How did XANA return? Read on.**

Chapter 2

"_What?!?!_" Ulrich asked, shocked, "If this is some kind of joke, it's _not_ funny."

"I told you you wouldn't believe me," Jeremie groaned.

"Jeremie would _never_ joke about something like this," said Aelita sternly, "XANA's woken up. We don't know how, but we are going to find out."

"Well, what do we do?!" asked Odd.

"Calm down, guys," said Yumi, "If we panic, it'll just get worse. So, are we going to the factory?"

"I don't know what else we can do," said Jeremie.

Ulrich didn't take his eyes off of Yumi. He worried about her. Even though she tried to be the responsible one with all the self-control, he could tell just by looking that she was just as confused and afraid as everyone else. It reminded him of a time when he was in her situation. He and his younger sister, Oriana, had been home while their parents were working late. They had thought they heard someone in the house, and it wasn't their parents. Ulrich had to be calm so it didn't seem as frightening for Oriana. He had thought he could handle everything, but in the end he realized he couldn't, and started to panic. If the sounds they had heard hadn't been a rat in the wall, they would have been done for. But now this was a real problem. He didn't want the same thing to happen to Yumi.

Ulrich was surprised that Jim didn't get suspicious when they all asked to go to the bathroom during P.E. Maybe they finally earned his trust after all this time without XANA making them have to skip classes. Or he was just stupid. Probably a combination of both. He was glad that Jim hadn't decided to retire after the meatball incident. Nobody else was that gullible.

Ulrich could see Yumi starting to lose it.

"Hey, look on the bright side," he said, hoping to relax her, "at least now you don't have to sit in Mrs. Hertz's class for an hour and a half."

Yumi smiled. "We were supposed to have a quiz today, too. I forgot to study…"

**

Yumi noticed that the supercomputer was now turned on.

"Somebody's definitely been here," she said.

"Yeah, I figured that," Jeremie said, "The question is who and how."

"So, are we going to Lyoko or not?" Odd asked, standing next to the elevator.

"Go ahead and I'll transfer you," Answered Jeremie.

Yumi punched in the code and went down to the scanner room. She saw that the scanners were opened. Maybe they had been that way before and she had simply forgotten. She walked into the scanner and heard Jeremie's voice commands to virtualize them. However, nothing was happening.

"Jeremie," she said, "something's gone wrong. The scanners aren't working. The lights aren't even on."

"I noticed," Said Jeremie, "whoever was here must have disabled them."

"Or he was just an idiot and broke them," said Odd.

"You have any ideas, Aelita?" Yumi asked, looking behind her. Nobody was there.

Yumi looked around the room and still didn't see Aelita.

"Is Aelita in the lab with you?" she asked Jeremie.

"No," he replied, "She's not in the scanner room with you?"

"Where could she be?" asked Ulrich, "I remember she was on the bridge."

"I don't think she came inside with us," said Odd.

Yumi kept looking for Aelita. She couldn't have just disappeared. Why would she leave like that? Suddenly Yumi heard a scream.

"Jeremie—"

"I heard it, too," said Jeremie before Yumi could finish her sentence.

"Odd," said Yumi, "please tell me that was you!"

"Don't look at me!" Odd said, "I don't scream like a girl!"

"Oh, no!" Yumi cried, "It must have been Aelita!"

**

"Help!" Aelita cried, struggling to free herself, "Someone help! Put me down! Let me go! Put me down or I'll call the police! _Help!!!_"

"Stop resisting," said the man carrying her over his shoulder, "you'll only wear yourself out."

Aelita didn't take notice of his attempts to stop her. She had to escape. She didn't know what this man wanted, but it wasn't good, or else he wouldn't have had to force her into it. Aelita kept kicking and hitting him, but nothing seemed to work. Maybe he was right. _No,_ Aelita thought to herself, _I can't give up. That's exactly what he wants._ She continued struggling and screaming for help.

By the time she was at the building where the man was taking her, she was exhausted. He finally dropped her in a room that was empty except for a chair and another man. They were both wearing identical black suits and sunglasses. Obviously they were with the government. They looked familiar to Aelita, but she couldn't figure out where she had seen them before.

Aelita thought that since they were government agents, they wanted to know something about Lyoko.

"What do you want with me?" she asked, trying to play dumb.

"Over the past year, we've been working on Project: Carthage, an experiment of a man named Waldo Schaeffer, otherwise known as Franz Hopper," said the taller one, "We've managed to reactivate the powerful program he called XANA, but we think you know something we don't. We've kept a close eye on you and your little gang, and it's obvious that you're involved. We need to know exactly how to control this XANA. If the government can control it, then we can use it as a weapon. Now tell us exactly what we need to know."

"You've got the wrong girl," Aelita said, trying to leave the room.

"I don't think so," said the second man, "You go by the name of Aelita Stones, correct?"

"How do you know my name?" Aelita asked, suddenly finding difficulty breathing. She definitely knew these people. But how?

"It's all on your file," said the man, "We know a lot about you. Including that 'Stones' isn't really your name. You are the daughter of Waldo Schaeffer. We also know that you know more than you're telling us. We can sit here for a long time, so you'd better start talking."

Aelita scoffed. "You're crazy," she said, "XANA can't be controlled by anyone!"

"How can you be certain?" asked the first man, "Your father knew. He had to; otherwise he wouldn't have created it in the first place. He would have fixed XANA's malfunction if he had survived. We know he's kept records of his ideas in his video diary. Anything in there might help. The problem is that we haven't been able to find it. And you know where it is, don't you?"

"What if I did?" Aelita asked, trying to stall them, "I wouldn't tell you anyway. XANA is only capable of mindless destruction. You'd only be making things worse."

There was silence for a moment. Suddenly, Aelita heard a voice over the loudspeaker.

"Agents 45 and 46, the chief would like a word with you. It won't take long, so you can leave immediately."

Agent 45 took one long look at Aelita.

"You stay put," he said, "We'll be right back. In the meantime, try and decide if you're willing to talk."

Aelita examined them as they left. She knew them. Who were they?

**In case you were confused at the mention of Oriana, she was in a fanfic I read by RikuFanGirl on DeviantART, and I added her into the story because I loved the character. I tribute other people's fanfics by doing that sometimes. I don't know if that story's on or not, though. Myehh. So who are Agents 45 and 46? Click the arrow, my dear reader. Just click the arrow.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm running out of things to say at the beginning… Yeah… Just read…**

Chapter 3

Jeremie's cell phone rang. It was Aelita.

"Aelita?" he said, relieved, "Where are you?"

"I'm not sure," Aelita answered, "But I do know who awoke XANA. It was some government organization, probably the Men in Black. They want to use it as a weapon."

"I follow you so far," said Jeremie, "But that still doesn't explain how you got kidnapped."

"Well," said Aelita, "I thought I heard someone following us on the way to the factory, and when I found out who it was, he started carrying me to Area 51 or something. Turned out, he was with the government, and now he and another agent are interrogating me. They want to know where Daddy's video diary is so they can learn how to control XANA. They left for a few minutes, but I don't know how much time I have to talk to you until they come back. Can you use my call to track me?"

"I'm searching for you now," said Jeremie, "Let's see what the GPS picked up… There. I've pinpointed your location, but the name's blocked. Must be top secret."

"This is crazy," said Aelita. Suddenly she gasped. "Jeremie, I think I hear them coming back! Send someone!" She hung up.

"Okay," said Jeremie as he worked on the supercomputer to repair the scanners, "Who's going to find Aelita?" Everyone volunteered.

"Odd and Ulrich, why don't you two go?"

"We won't let you down, Einstein," said Odd as he and Ulrich left.

"What about me?" Yumi asked, "To save Aelita, they'll need all the help they can get!"

"I need you here to help me fix the scanners," said Jeremie, "With any luck, I can send you to Lyoko and launch a return trip to reverse this whole thing."

"But I have to help Aelita! You know how dangerous this kind of mission is, even with two people! Ulrich and Odd will need some backup!"

"I'd have Aelita stay and help, but, evidently, she's not here. Ulrich and Odd wouldn't really be of any use to me for this kind of work, but you would."

"But—"

"Yumi, if I had my way, _I_ would go. But someone has to stay here."

Yumi sighed. "I get that, Jeremie. I just…"

"I know. I'm worried about her, too."

**

Aelita saw the men come back. Not knowing where she had seen them before was really aggravating her.

"Now," began 46, "have you remembered anything?"

She hadn't remembered what she wanted to. But the way the men were standing suddenly brought back an image to her mind. She finally figured it out. She didn't remember much about them, but she did remember a reason to be terrified. Heart pounding, Aelita began frantically searching for some means of escape, but found none. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"Alright," she said, "I'll tell you everything. But first you tell me something."

The men waited for a response.

"Where is my mother?"

The men looked at each other.

"I don't follow," said 45.

"Don't pretend you don't know," said Aelita, "I knew I had seen you two before. It was almost 20 years ago, but I still remember. You took her away from me! Now where is she?!"

"We'll tell you if you talk," said 46.

"Well, I'm not talking until you tell me!" said Aelita.

"Well," said 45, "It seems we are at an impasse." Aelita sat there, silent, looking them straight in the eyes.

"Give us a moment to think it over," said 46. The men moved to a corner of the room and whispered to each other. Aelita couldn't hear what they were saying, but she hoped all this would end her way.

Finally 45 said to her, "Alright. We'll take you to her. But if you don't keep your word, you'll regret it. _Deeply._"

Aelita didn't know whether to be excited to see her mother, or to be afraid of what could happen afterwards.

The men lead Aelita down a hallway. Her feelings were all mixed up inside. She was excited that her mother was alive and so close by, she was nervous because she didn't know if her mother would remember or recognize her, she was sad because her father couldn't be there with her, and she was afraid because of what the men had said.

_If you don't keep your word, you'll regret it, _she thought, _what could they do?_

While Aelita was caught up in her thoughts, she found herself standing in front of a door. Agent 46 punched in a code. Aelita made it a point to memorize it, just in case.

The door opened, and Aelita saw a figure sitting in a bed.

She couldn't really make out much detail in this person that she saw, except, of course, for the unusually natural pink hair. Why was everything so blurry?

Aelita rubbed her eyes, and realized she was crying. There, standing straight across from her, was her mother.

After so many years of emptiness without a family, she could hardly believe it. Aelita saw her mother stand up, freeze, and run up to her. Aelita did the same, and she was soon in her mother's arms.

"Mommy," Aelita whispered, for she barely had a voice now, but she didn't know why, "I… I missed you so much…"

"Oh, Aelita," said her mother, "I can't believe you're alive…" Aelita didn't care if there was nothing more to say. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was home. Really, truly home, when it didn't matter where she was so long as she and her mother were together. Nothing else mattered anymore. All that mattered was that she was right where she needed to be. Maybe Aelita was dreaming. But if she was, she hoped she would never wake up.

"This is all very touching," said 46, "But if I remember correctly, you have a promise to keep. Now that you've had your little family reunion, it's time to talk. Where is Franz Hopper's diary?"

Aelita was silent. She was having a battle in her mind whether to tell them or to run. She knew they wouldn't be able to control XANA if they tried. If they did try, XANA would probably be infuriated, and there was no telling what could happen then. But if they didn't get her father's diary, then they wouldn't try. She couldn't tell them. She wouldn't. But as soon as she said this, one of the men pulled out a gun.

"Do you think I was kidding?" he asked. Aelita froze in terror for a moment, but then just smiled.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked, "Shoot me? You still won't get an answer. To get what you want, you need me alive."

"Oh he's not going to shoot _you_," said 45.

Aelita's dream turned into a nightmare as 46 pointed the gun at her mother.

"Now," he said, "I'm going to ask you again. Where is the diary?"

**

_Stealth, _Odd thought to himself, _be stealthy. Like a cat. Or a ninja. Or James Bond. Or James Bond's cat who's a ninja. _Suddenly, a loud clang echoed about the hallway, and Odd saw that he had knocked down a large metal trash can. Ulrich glared at him.

"Ummm…" Odd began, trying to think of an excuse, "It's a distraction?"

Ulrich didn't look convinced, and they kept walking. _Okay,_ Odd thought, _even James Bond's ninja cat makes mistakes sometimes… _

All of a sudden, Odd heard footsteps. He stopped walking. He heard silence. He looked behind him to see if someone was following him. Nobody. He must have been hearing himself. He started walking again, this time much faster, and heard his footsteps echoing. He looked behind him again, this time much more panicked. Again, he saw nobody. He noticed that Ulrich was no longer in front of him.

"I'm all alone…" he whimpered.

"Slow down!" said a voice, "I can't keep up with you!"

Odd turned around and waved his arms in front of him like a karate master, screaming kung-fu screams, hoping to scare this person away. He struck.

"Ow! Odd! What was that for? It's me!"

Odd realized he had just kicked Ulrich in the leg. _So now I'm James Bond's _paranoid_ ninja cat, _Odd thought.

"I hope we get to Aelita soon," said Odd,"I don't think I can take much more of this."

"Odd," Ulrich whispered, "I think I see her."

"Where?"

"In there."

Odd and Ulrich peeked through a door that was cracked open. Odd couldn't really see much because Ulrich's head was in the way.

"Move! I can't see!"

"You can talk, Odd! If you're in front of me then your hair blocks everything!"

Odd groaned, and then covered his mouth for fear of being heard. He kept looking as well as he could, and finally saw Aelita. She looked petrified. But then, Odd would be petrified, too, if he was being interrogated. The mere thought of it scared him. He must have been even more afraid than he thought, because he was seeing double. There were two Aelitas. But one was taller. And she had long hair. And she was wearing blue. Okay, so maybe he wasn't seeing double. Who was the other Aelita, then? She looked a lot like her. Odd looked at them both for a while, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Aelita and Taller Aelita were holding hands and everything. Taller Aelita also looked petrified. Odd was confused. Was the taller one Aelita from a parallel universe? No, that was a stupid theory… Odd looked around the room some more. He saw two guys that looked like they were Men in Black.

Odd heard a few words here and there, but he couldn't really make out what they were talking about. He heard something about the diary and a family reunion. Family reunion? Was Taller Aelita somehow related to Aelita? It made sense. He knew what the men wanted, but nothing they said gave any hints as to exactly who Taller Aelita was. Odd kept listening; maybe someone would say her name. He heard Aelita saying something about controlling XANA and XANA getting mad. Odd finally caught a whole phrase: "Do you think I was kidding?"

He saw one of the men in black pull out a gun. However, Aelita didn't look scared. That is, until the guy aimed his gun at Taller Aelita.

_Okay_, thought Odd, _I may not know who that is, but I can't just sit here while she's in mortal danger! _ He tried to jump in, but Ulrich stopped him.

"What's wrong with you?!" Odd demanded, "Can't you see what's happening in there?! That guy's gonna shoot Taller Aelita! We have to do something!"

Ulrich motioned for Odd to be quiet.

"No, we don't," he whispered, "Look."

Suddenly, a fan flew over Odd's head and sliced the gun in half. Shocked and confused, Odd looked behind him. He then understood what Ulrich meant as he turned around. There was Yumi right behind him, armed and ready to fight.

"You guys need some help?"

**So they're those dudes who stole Antea! Gasp! Why did they steal Antea? When did Yumi get there? Why am I still talking?! All in due time. I've waited a long time to post this story, so there's a whole lot of it done already. ARROW! CLICK! NOW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**REWIND!!**

Chapter 4

"Now connect the pixelation converter to the digital enhancement unit," Jeremie ordered.

"I'm guessing I'm supposed to know what you just said," complained Yumi, confused.

Jeremie sighed—the sigh Yumi always predicted as his way of saying something along the lines of "you'll never reach my level of genius".

"Put the blue cord into the purple socket," he said. "Why didn't you just say that?" asked Yumi as she did what she was told.

"Because I'm not used to having to limit my speech to your vocabulary," said Jeremie, "Now just a few more adjustments and we should be finished… insert the programming disc and that should be it."

"What does the programming disc look like?" Yumi asked, knowing she would be followed by the "you'll never be an egghead like me" sigh.

"It looks like a pizza with eyeballs," Jeremie moaned.

Yumi put the eyeball pizza into the slot where it looked like it should go. It didn't fit at first, and she wondered out loud if that was where it went.

"It does that," said Jeremie, "I usually have to kick it about 6 times."

Yumi figured that since she was twice as strong as Jeremie, she would only have to kick it 3 times. She knew she was right when all the lights came on.

"Yes!" Jeremie cheered, "We've got power! Get in the scanner and I'll send you to Sector 5. Then I can translate you from the Skid."

"Translate me? To where?"

"To Aelita," Jeremie answered, "To save her, Ulrich and Odd need all the help they can get. You said so yourself."

**

After Yumi was translated, she noticed she looked different.

"This doesn't look like the outfit I had last time I got translated," she said.

"It's because Lyoko's been turned off," Jeremie replied, "Now that it's been turned back on, everything has reset itself."

"Hmm," said Yumi as she examined herself, "Not bad. I could get used to this."

She was wearing a black sleeveless full-body suit, with black and grey bands on her upper arms. She had fingerless gloves and a grey belt with holsters on each hip for her fans. She took out her fans, which were also now black to match the rest of her color scheme. Yumi smiled with satisfaction. She liked being a ninja.

Now that Yumi was where she needed to be, she had to find Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita. Slowly and carefully, she snuck into the building and listened for their voices. She figured she would most likely hear Odd, since he was stupid enough to talk on a stealth mission. She kept walking, and eventually she heard Odd. He was making weird karate noises for some obscure reason, and it sounded like Ulrich was in pain. Yumi didn't even try to figure it out. She finally caught up to them, but didn't let them see her. If Odd got startled again, his antics would probably blow their cover. Odd and Ulrich stopped at a door, and Yumi could only assume that was where Aelita was. She couldn't see or hear anything that was going on in there, and so she had to figure out what was happening from Odd's mumbling. Unfortunately, the only things he and Ulrich said were telling each other to move.

Yumi waited impatiently for something to happen. Finally, she saw Odd try to jump into the room where Aelita was. That meant something bad was happening. Yumi hastily sprang up behind them and looked through the door. There were two men inside, and one was aiming a gun at somebody. _That can't be good,_ she thought, and quickly disposed of the gun before anyone could get hurt.

Yumi looked at Ulrich and Odd sit there with their mouths hanging open; they were obviously bewildered that she was there.

"You guys need some help?" she asked, knowing she probably wouldn't get an answer.

"Yumi!" said Odd, "What are you—How—you—and…Huh?"

"I'll explain later," said Yumi, "Right now we need to get Aelita out of here."

"Who are you?!" one of the men bellowed, "State your business!"

Yumi was silent. The others knew she had a trick up her sleeve as she stood there glaring at the men who threatened Aelita's life. Nobody could imagine how much she wanted to slice their heads in half. She waited until they least expected it, and then she grabbed Aelita's arm and made for the exit.

"Come on," she said to Aelita, "We have to hurry! If they catch us we'll never get back to the factory!"

Aelita nodded, but then stopped when she heard someone calling her name. Yumi didn't recognize the voice, so she looked back to see who it was. It was a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Aelita, and she was trying to follow them. However, the men refused to let her go.

"Mommy!" Aelita screamed, and ran for her.

"_Mommy?!" _Yumi thought, _Oh, man… I forgot how crazy being a Lyoko Warrior was…_

"Aelita," Yumi called, "No! Don't go back!"

"Are you crazy?!" said Aelita, "I can't just leave her!"

"I'll get her," said Yumi, "You keep going! Don't stop, no matter what you hear! Understand?"

Aelita did as she was told and followed Odd back to the factory. Ulrich, however, stayed.

"Ulrich—"

"I know," said Ulrich, "But… You be careful."

"Don't worry about me," Yumi replied, smiling a little, "You know I can take care of myself."

Ulrich nodded and ran after the others.

Yumi snapped her fan open. "Let her go."

**

"Ulrich!" Aelita called, "Hurry up!"

"Coming!" Ulrich answered, "I just had to do something!"

"Did you tell Yumi you love her in case anything happens?" asked Odd.

"Odd," Ulrich snarled, "this is no time to be cracking jokes! Aelita, remind me to kill him later."

"I was just trying to break the tension," said Odd, "Man!"

Ulrich sighed. Sometimes it surprised him how stupid Odd was. There were times when Ulrich wanted to take Odd's head and kick it five miles into the air. That was why he was so good at soccer. It was pretty ironic that he had that moron to thank for his skills.

Suddenly, Ulrich heard gunshots. Despite what Yumi had told him, he stopped and looked back. He saw a man in the distance, chasing after them with a gun. Odd gasped, and Aelita shrieked and appeared unable to move. Ulrich grabbed her hand and ran faster than he knew possible.

"We've got to get out of here!" he yelled as bullets started whizzing past their heads.

**

Yumi smirked as the two men squirmed and roared unintelligible but likely curse words. She had paralyzed them by hitting every pressure point she remembered and took the time she had until they could move again to tie them to chairs and gag them with duct tape. She felt content with this, as she had always wanted to do that to someone. She turned to Antea.

"You okay?"

"I think so," Antea replied, "A little shaken up from all this action, but I'll be fine."

"Good," said Yumi, "Now to get you out of here."

"Where are we going?" Antea asked.

"To the factory," Yumi answered, "We'll be safe there. Then we'll have time to figure out what the heck's going on."

"And Aelita? Is she all right?"

"Don't worry. If I know Ulrich, he's gonna do whatever it takes to keep your daughter safe."

Yumi opened the window and pulled herself outside, then pulled Antea out with her. As they headed for the factory, they could still hear the muffled screams. Yumi thought it best to learn as much as she could about the government's intentions.

"How long did they keep you in there?" Yumi asked.

"It's hard to say. It must have been almost ten years."

"What could they want enough to keep you for that long?"

"That's the worst part. They wouldn't even tell me. I barely knew anything other than where the factory was… I kept telling Waldo to stop working on whatever he was trying to do, and that it was dangerous, but he just got obsessed. I wasn't even sure what he was up to. Everything broke down one day, and I thought he'd given up after that. Then a few days later…"

"They took you away?"

"It was about five days after Christmas," Antea began, "Every second of that day has always been so clear to me. Aelita woke me up early on a Saturday morning because it was snowing. She wouldn't stop jumping on my bed so we finally went outside. She was the only one who wasn't relying on the cold to stay awake, but we were just pleased to see her so happy. Then, out of nowhere, someone grabbed my arm, shoved me in their truck, and drove off. I remember how long Aelita chased after me. Sometimes… in my dreams, I… I can still hear her crying."

Yumi was silent for a moment. She remembered how Aelita would tell her the nightmares she had, and she remembered this being one of them. It was good to know she wasn't alone in her suffering. Aelita had always seemed like such a cheerful person, but it was sometimes shocking how horrible her life really was.

"Did they ask you any questions?" Yumi asked, trying to relieve herself.

"No. They just kept me there. After about a week of trying to escape, they came in and told me that my husband and my daughter were dead. After that… Nothing mattered."

"And now?"

"Now I'm still trying to convince myself I'm not dreaming. When I think about it, it makes sense why they said that. If I didn't have a motivation, then I wouldn't try to escape. I kept telling myself at first that they were lying, and it turns out I was right. At least… Aelita's alive. What about my husband? Is he…?"

Yumi hated to tell her, but Antea didn't look like she wanted false hope.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Antea sighed. "I knew I couldn't have both. Well, Aelita's here, and that's good enough for me."

"He went saving her, if that's any consolation."

Antea forced a weak smile. "I expected as much. Whenever I told him to stop working, he would always say he was doing it for her."

Yumi smiled back, and then tried to figure out what to make of all this. The Men in Black kidnapped Antea, but not Aelita or Franz Hopper. They locked her away from them and didn't reveal their intentions to her. This could only mean one thing.

"I think they were using you," said Yumi, "they wanted to get information about XANA and Lyoko. You barely knew anything about it, so they couldn't have wanted you to talk. They wanted your husband to. And the only way to get him to do that was to threaten you. They probably told him that they were keeping you hostage, and if he didn't do what they wanted then he'd never see you again. That must have been when he took Aelita to Lyoko, to keep her safe until he could think of a way out of all that."

"It all makes sense now," said Antea, "So how do you plan to solve all this?"

"Once we figure out how XANA came back," Yumi began, "Jeremie will come up with a plan to get rid of him for good. And hopefully along the way we can bring your husband back. If I understand correctly, Lyoko has been recreated, which means that everything that was there has been restored. Jeremie said that as long as XANA exists, so will its creator… Or something like that. Then once we beat XANA, it's back to our normal lives, and your family will be together again, and we all live happily ever after."

"Happily ever after?" Antea repeated. She sounded strange when she said this, as though she wasn't quite satisfied with the ending.

Suddenly, Yumi felt a strange sensation. It was like her life was being sucked out. She looked behind her and saw Antea, holding her hand out, slowly drawing it towards herself. Her face looked… evil. Yumi gasped, and before any words could come, she found herself back on the Skid.

XANA had never felt so alive.

"_Happily ever after…"_ XANA said, finally able to end that sickening act, _"…For me."_

**Didn't see that coming, did you? I'm so evil… MUAHAHAHA!! =D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so you're probably freaking out right about now. I was posting this on the Code: Wiki Forums and one of them thought I had ended it there. If you thought the same, then worry not, here's more. This chapter's kind of short, but I thought the last part sounded like an end-of-chapter type line. So, here you go.**

Chapter 5

Aelita darted beside Ulrich, gasping for air, heart pounding, afraid that at any moment she could trip and get shot. If he wasn't pulling her along, she probably would. The manhole that led to the factory got closer and closer. In a few seconds this nightmare would end. Odd got there first, and he threw the top off and jumped. Aelita tried to run faster, but she started to feel faint. She pushed herself harder, knowing her life depended on getting to the factory. But her strength faded away, and Aelita fell.

Aelita's sight grew fainter every time she blinked. She could barely make out Ulrich's face in front of her. He was saying something, but she couldn't tell what. He must have been telling her to get up… Aelita thought she was going to pass out. She closed her eyes. But just before she blacked out, she heard another gunshot. This one was followed by Ulrich's screams.

Aelita felt completely awake then, and she rushed to see what had happened.

She wished she hadn't woken up.

It was one of the most horrifying things she had ever seen.

Ulrich was sprawled on the ground, screaming in pain, with blood pouring from his leg. He had been shot. Aelita knew that she was in danger sitting there, but once again, she couldn't move. She had no idea what to do now. Ulrich was quickly losing blood, and no matter how hard Aelita tried, she couldn't pick him up. The men that had been chasing after her were only a few feet away.

_That's it,_ Aelita thought, _it's all over…_

Aelita started to cry.

She could hear one of the agents ask the other what to do with her.

"Just leave her," he said. "She's no threat to us now." With that, they left.

"Aelita…" Ulrich said weakly, "Go without me… Get help… I'll be okay…"

"But I can't just leave you here!" said Aelita, "I—you're hurt! If I leave you alone, there's no telling what could happen!"

"Aelita…" said Ulrich, "I won't be alone… Look behind you…"

Aelita turned around.

It was her mother.

"Mommy!" Aelita gasped. She stood up and hugged her.

"It's okay, sweetheart," said her mother, "I'll stay with your friend. Go on."

Aelita asked no questions, and went on her way. She knew her mother could keep Ulrich safe.

She trusted her.

_**Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliiiiiiiiiff! And that's why he's called Cliff Hangeeeer!!!**_** Yet another "dun-dun-duuuunnnn" moment!!! Just be glad I have more. Go on. You know what to do.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Once again you're probably freaking out, and you wanna know what's gonna happen. You just have to read the story, because I'm not telling you that XANA won't hurt Ulrich, and I'm certainly not telling you that he'll be fine after a few weeks in the hospital. YOU'LL GET NOTHING OUT OF ME!!!**

Chapter 6

"JEREMIE! JEREMIE!!!" Odd screeched as he ran out of the elevator, "THEY'RE AFTER US!!!!"

"What?" Jeremie asked, swiveling towards him in what Odd called the Einstein chair, "Who's after us?"

"The Men in Black!" Odd answered, "They followed me and Aelita here! We lost them at the elevator, but since they're secret agents, it should take them about 5 seconds to figure out the code!"

"This is bad," said Jeremie, running his fingers through his hair, as he always did when he was worried.

"Where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked. She wasn't in her armor anymore, she must have been devirtualized.

Odd really didn't want Yumi to freak on him, but she had a way of knowing when he was lying to her, so he figured he had better spill it.

"He's still in the forest," Odd sighed, "He got shot in the leg."

"He--?! What?!" Yumi screamed, "And you left him up there ALONE?! What's wrong with you?!?!" Yumi grabbed Odd's shirt.

"Calm down!" said Odd, "He'll be fine! Antea's with him! Don't harm me!!"

Yumi screamed again, threw Odd down, then ran to a corner and started kicking the wall. "Odd, you IDIOT!!"

"Yumi, calm down," said Jeremie, "There's no way he could have known."

"Could have known what?" Aelita asked.

She had been slumped against the wall for some time now, silently, recovering form this crazy day. It had been too much for her. Yumi and Jeremie were both silent, so Aelita repeated her question, this time with more sincerity. Still no answer. Odd started to get worried. If Yumi was losing her mind, that must have meant Ulrich was in trouble. Finally she spoke up, and Odd couldn't believe what he heard.

"You left Ulrich with a spectre."

"But…" Aelita stammered, "She can't be… I thought…"

"Aelita," Jeremie began, "Don't give up just yet. XANA created the Antea you saw. But the real Antea is safe on Lyoko."

"Huh?" Odd and Aelita said simultaneously, completely bewildered.

"Let me explain," said Jeremie, "Your mother was held captive for quite a while, but as soon as the Men in Black reactivated the supercomputer and brought XANA back to life, XANA switched your mother with a polymorphic spectre."

"All those things it told me on the way here couldn't have been made up by XANA," said Yumi, "they were too human. So we think he must have scanned her memories."

"I'm not very clear on his intentions just yet," said Jeremie, "but I'm pretty sure he did this to get to you; to all of us. Antea is on Lyoko now, and though she's trapped in a guardian, she's safe. If XANA wanted to hurt her, she'd be dead by now."

"Why is he keeping her there?" Odd asked.

"I'm not really sure yet, but I'm working on it," Jeremie replied, swiveling the Einstein throne back to the keyboard.

Yumi pushed the button to the elevator.

"Are any of you coming?" she asked.

"Coming where?" Odd asked. "To save Ulrich," said Yumi, "There's no way I'm leaving him at XANA's mercy."

"Oh," said Odd. He had almost forgotten about that. This made him feel very, very stupid. He hated having such a short attention span.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said, "But first we've gotta get past the gruesome twosome."

"Easy," said Yumi, cracking her knuckles. She didn't look like she even needed her fans. She was pretty fierce today.

"I'm coming, too," said Aelita, getting up.

"Not so fast, Aelita," said Jeremie, turning towards her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"You're going to Lyoko to deactivate the tower and find your mother," Jeremie answered. He didn't have to tell her twice. Aelita went straight to the scanner room.

There was no doubt that Aelita had a welcoming committee waiting for her on Lyoko, so Odd and Yumi needed to buy her time. They sent themselves up and prepared for battle.

**

Ulrich dragged himself across the ground, desperately trying to escape. He could never have anticipated that Antea was really one of XANA's creations. Ulrich kept hoping that Jeremie had somehow figured it out, and that his friends would rescue him before it was too late. But he was just about ready to abandon that dream. He feared that he wouldn't be able to move pretty soon; he was losing so much blood.

XANA was getting closer, and Ulrich was going to pull himself all the way to the infirmary if he had to. He used to take this route nearly every day, but it had been almost a year since he last had to, so he wasn't quite sure which way to go. All the trees started to look the same after a while. He couldn't stop to think, or else the spectre would catch up with him. Ulrich couldn't remember where to go. He had a bullet in his leg, XANA was ready to maul him, and now he was lost. He felt a hand grab his shoulder. He could only think of one thing to do: Close his eyes so he wouldn't see it coming.

"Ulrich!"

That voice… it didn't sound like Antea, or like XANA. It couldn't have been who he thought it was; XANA must have been trying to trick him. He opened his eyes. The spectre was still chasing after him, and Odd was there holding it back. Ulrich wasn't doomed after all. The voice he heard couldn't have been XANA in disguise. It was really Yumi.

"Ulrich, you're okay!" said Yumi, squeezing the life out of him, "I was so worried about you!"

"I wouldn't say I'm okay," said Ulrich. He was happy to see her, but he still needed some help.

"Right," said Yumi, letting him breathe, "Show me the wound." Yumi ripped off her sleeve and tied it around Ulrich's leg.

"There," she said, "that should stop the bleeding for now. Come on, we need to get you to the infirmary. You'll be safe there until we can get an ambulance."

Ulrich tried to get up himself and cause less work for Yumi, but stopped when he heard screaming.

"YUUUMIIII!" Odd shrieked, "HAAAALP!!!"

"On second thought," said Yumi, "I'm gonna take over for Odd. Don't go anywhere!"

Ulrich gave Yumi a look. Yumi got the message and looked embarrassed for saying that.

Yumi ran over to Odd, who was frantically slapping the spectre to protect himself. Yumi pulled Odd away from it and took his place. She and XANA locked hands, trying to push each other down.

"Odd!" Yumi yelled between grunts, "Get Ulrich to the infirmary!"

Odd helped Ulrich up and together they trudged on back to Kadic. Ulrich felt much calmer now. He and the Lyoko Warriors had been having the worst day ever, but now things were starting to look up for them. Ulrich had his life-flashing-before-his-eyes moment, but he knew now that he would be fine. Ulrich wasn't as worried about Yumi as he normally would have been. She was furious, and if he knew Yumi, that was when she was the most dangerous. Maybe they had a chance of beating XANA after all.

**Finally the end of the chapter didn't make you want to scream. Unless you're XANA. Then you're probably pretty mad right now. It's okay, XANA, just be glad that I've raised you from the ashes. It's kind of funny that the world wept as you died and wanted you to return. Why am I talking to XANA? Shouldn't you be attacking the Lyoko Warriors instead of reading this? Shoo! :P**


	7. Chapter 7

**I've been waiting to write some Odd and Yumi banter, and I finally got the chance to do it in this chapter. YAY ME! I don't know if my little spectre theory is entirely correct, but it makes sense to me. I just noticed that the Men in Black have kind of disappeared from the story… I'll fix that plothole some way or another. **

Chapter 7

"Transfer Aelita."

"Scanner Aelita."

"Virtualization!"

Aelita closed her eyes and felt herself zooming away to Lyoko... It had been so long since she last felt that sensation, the kind you get when you fall... She had almost forgotten it. Aelita opened her eyes and found herself on Lyoko, in the ice sector. She never thought she'd see it again. So many memories...

Aelita's face grew firm as she remembered what she was there for. She didn't have time to start reminiscing. She had a mission to complete. Her mother was waiting. She sat down and closed her eyes, searching for any sort of waves that could point her in the right direction.

"Aelita," Jeremie's voice rang out, "I know what you're thinking. I want you to find her too, but right now you need to deactivate the tower. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd won't be able to hold on forever, so we need to get rid of the spectre as soon as we can. Then we can figure out how to free your mother."

Aelita sighed and got up, hating that he was right. She could see the tower out in the distance, but it would take a while for her to get there. Aelita thought for a moment; she didn't have that much time. What would be the fastest way possible to get to the tower?

"Jeremie…" Aelita began as it came to her, "Can I still fly here?"

"I don't know," said Jeremie, "You could. See for yourself."

In merely seconds, Aelita found herself with two large, flowing angel wings, covered in glowing pink feathers. She jumped into the air and rocketed towards the tower.

Aelita had forgotten how incredible flying was. For the first time since she found out XANA was back, she was actually enjoying herself. She flipped and twisted and turned, and before she knew it, she was laughing. It felt so good, especially after everything she had to suffer through. She didn't want this moment to end. Aelita sighed with satisfaction. She grew closer and closer…

"Aelita, behind you!" Jeremie shouted suddenly.

Aelita felt a laser hit her in the back, and she fell to the ground. She looked up, and hovering above her was a Manta.

"I should've known," Aelita said to herself. She charged up an energy field and began firing at the Manta, while backing towards the tower. _Almost there,_ she thought, _just a few more steps…_

Aelita bumped into something… Something big. She turned around, and, just as she feared, a Megatank was guarding the tower.

"Wonderful," Aelita murmured.

**

Odd knocked on the door to the infirmary. Yolanda promptly answered, and gasped after one look at Ulrich.

"Oh no!" she cried, helping him hobble over to the bed, "What happened?!"

Odd told Yolanda that one of the local gangs—the Bones of Wrath, they called themselves—had shot Ulrich. Thankfully, Yolanda believed him, and she sent for an ambulance as soon as Odd had finished explaining.

"I'm gonna go call Yumi," Odd said to Ulrich, "You're okay if I leave?"

"I'll be fine, mother" said Ulrich, "I don't need you to hold my hand."

"You think you're real funny, don't you?"

"Look who's talking."

Odd made a face and walked out the door. He picked up his phone and dialed Yumi's number.

"This is not a good time, Odd!" Yumi yelled.

"I just called to say that Ulrich's safe with Yolanda, and the ambulance is on its way."

"Yeah, that's great. I'll be sure to give him a get well card as soon as I get rid of the pink-headed demon that's trying to kill me!"

"Oh, you're still fighting pseudo-Antea?" Odd asked.

"What other pink-headed demons do you know?! Did you really forget already?! GAH!! THAT'S IT!! YOU WANNA EAT YOUR FEET?!?!"

"What?" Odd asked, "That depends. Can I cook them first?"

"Not you, Odd!! Go away before my phone gets crushed again!!!"

"Want me to play some background music to help motivate you?"

"NO!!" Yumi screamed, "SHUT UP!!!"

Odd turned on the Superman theme.

"ODD!!!" Yumi roared, "TURN THAT OFF BEFORE I BEAT YOU SENSELESS!!"

"Well, since you asked so nicely…" Odd said, and hung up.

"She didn't sound happy," said Ulrich upon Odd's return.

"You heard Yumi?" Odd asked.

"Yes, I heard Yumi, along with the rest of France. What did you say this time to get her so angry?"

"I don't know! She just started yelling at me!"

"It's probably just the sound of your voice. That always makes her want to scream."

"This is true," Odd said, "Anyways, I should probably do something constructive."

"You probably should," Ulrich said with a yawn, "Go help Jeremie or something."

"Me?" Odd laughed, "Help Jeremie? He'd never let me near his equipment. I had something else in mind."

He pulled out his DS and started playing Tetrix Annihilator.

"You're so lazy," Ulrich remarked.

"And proud of it," Odd joked.

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Now be quiet so I can take a well-earned nap."

"Who's lazy now?"

"I'm crippled. I have a right to be lazy."

"Shall I tell you a bedtime story?" asked Odd in a mocking voice.

"I'll never understand you, Odd."

"And you never will."

**

Yumi slammed the "pink-headed demon" up against a tree.

"You're not gonna win this time, XANA," She snarled, and punched it in the face.

She raised her fist, about to punch it again, but was stopped as the spectre grabbed Yumi's arm. It gave a mocking grin and twisted Yumi's arm until she felt like her bones were about to snap. Instead of breaking her arm, XANA flung Yumi up against another tree. Yumi cringed, grabbing her shoulder, which she had just scraped during the impact.

Yumi needed some time to think about what to do. She ran through the forest as fast as she could, trying to figure out how she was going to beat the spectre.

How did one kill a spectre? It wasn't really a person; XANA made it. So how was she supposed to get rid of that thing? What was it made of? XANA couldn't create matter. That was beyond even him. He had to have something to work with. XANA was a computer program. He worked through things like power outlets. Whenever he made something, it would start out like black smoke… And it came out of a power outlet.

Electricity.

It was made through electricity.

Now Yumi knew what to do.

"Hey, XANA!" She called, "Over here! I'm going to the factory to get translated so I can beat your virtual face!"

XANA took the bait and chased Yumi straight through the sewer and up to the bridge. Yumi charged at the spectre, hoping desperately for her plan to work. She pinned it against the railing. The spectre began to fight back, suddenly realizing what Yumi was trying to do. Yumi chuckled, and pushed it off of the bridge and into the water.

Yumi picked up her phone and called Jeremie.

"The spectre's taken care of," she said, watching it sink.

"Really?" Jeremie asked, "How'd you manage that? WHOA! LOOK OUT FOR THE KRABE!!"

"Huh?"

"Not you," said Jeremie, "Continue?"

"Let's just say XANA can't swim."

"Okay. That's good. On another note, we might need some backup over here."

"Aelita's fighting monsters?" Yumi guessed.

"Yup. You've already been to Lyoko today, so we need Odd. You've got nothing to do, so why don't you call him? I'm kind of busy right now. GYAHH!! MANTA!!"

"Alright. He's probably sitting around playing video games anyway. Later." She hung up on Jeremie and called Odd.

"Want that background music now?" Odd asked.

"No, Odd. Jeremie needs you on Lyoko, so put down the DS and go."

"How did you know I was playing video games?"

"What else would you be doing right now?"

"I could be fighting off a possessed kitten."

"But you're not, are you?" Yumi asked.

"No…"

"Then get over here!"

"Why can't you? The ambulance just got here. I wanted to stay with Ulrich."

"My life points haven't charged back up yet. I'll stay with Ulrich if it's that important to you. Now go."

"What's the magic word?" Odd asked.

"NOW!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Yumi put her phone back in her pocket. Odd was such a child. She knew she couldn't catch the ambulance on time, so she started for home. Her parents could take her to the hospital to see Ulrich, and they'd probably want to know about this anyway. It wasn't that far of a walk, it only took her about fifteen minutes to get there from school. Though if she added the time it took to get to school from the factory, it was around twenty-five. It would be dark by the time she got home. Her parents must have been worried sick by now. At least this time she had a good excuse to have been gone so long. Still, she dreaded what her father would do as soon as she got there. And if she knew Hyroki, he'd just make things worse by saying something stupid. Yumi sighed. _Run, Yumi,_ she thought to herself, _just run…_

**Mr. Takeo Ishiyama is NOT gonna be happy. Poor Yumi. She's gonna be exhausted when she gets home… Did you catch that little homage, Odyssey fans? Tee-hee. I wonder if there are Odyssey stories on this site… Oh, and guess what? I'm not telling you to hit the arrow button, because this is all I have so far! And to make things even better, I just got hit with writer's block!! YEAH!!!!! **

**Poor you… I'm impossible, aren't I? :D **


	8. Chapter 8

**The next chapter is here! Yay!**

Chapter 8

"Just run into the stupid tower!!" Jeremie yelled to Aelita, "Run in there and forget the monsters!!"

"I can't run into the tower without getting BLASTED BY A MEGATANK!" Aelita yelled back.

"Then kill it!" said Jeremie.

"Thanks for the advice!" Aelita retorted, "Now how do you suggest I do that when I'm surrounded by every XANA monster in existence?!"

"I don't know!" said Jeremie, "In a super-Lyoko-pink-battle-elf way!"

"Where the heck is Odd?!" Aelita shouted.

"Good question," Jeremie mumbled in frustration. It was so typical of Odd to be "fashionably late." He should have been there ten minutes ago. And when he finally arrived, he'd probably use some stupid excuse like "I got attacked by a man-bear," or "There was a vicious badger in the forest." Knowing Odd, he was probably in the bathroom or something.

Finally, Jeremie heard the sound of the elevator opening.

"I'm here!" said Odd.

"It's about time," Jeremie scolded.

"Well, I ran into a wild turkey on the way!"

"Of course," said Jeremie in disbelief, "And I suppose you ran into a rabid Chihuahua, too."

"I did," said Odd.

"Odd, you idiot," said Jeremie, "Just get to the scanner room and help Aelita out."

"I will rescue thy damsel in distress!" said Odd as he marched away, "I shall depart forthwith!"

"Good luck, sir knight," Jeremie mocked.

"Transfer Odd.

"Scanner Odd.

"Virtualization!"

**

"Yumi Ishiyama!" Takeo yelled at his daughter, "It is eight o'clock! Where on earth have you been, young lady?!"

"I'm really sorry, dad," said Yumi nervously.

"Your father and I have been worried sick!" said Akiko.

"You'd better have a good explanation for this," Takeo said sternly.

"As a matter of fact," Yumi put firmly, "I do."

"Well?" asked Akiko, "Go on. We're listening."

"Were you on a date with Ulrich?" Hyroki teased.

"Shut up, you little insect!" Yumi yelled, "No! I mean, I was _with_ him, but-"

"What?!" Takeo bellowed, "You mean to tell me that you spent the past six hours dawdling around with _him_ while meanwhile, we're ready to call the police and tell them that our daughter's missing?!"

"I said no!" said Yumi, frustrated, "Just hear me out! Yes, I was _with_ Ulrich, but it wasn't a date or anything like that! I was only with him because he's been shot by some gang and it took him hours just to get enough strength to help support himself so I could get him to the infirmary, and now he's in the hospital! Satisfied?!"

Yumi's family stood there silently in shock.

"I'm so sorry, Yumi…" Akiko said softly, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "If we'd realized…"

"It's fine, mom," said Yumi, "I don't need any sympathy. The one who really needs us right now is Ulrich. I don't suppose we could go see how he's doing?"

"Of course we can, Yumi," said Takeo, "It's the least we can do."

"That poor boy," said Akiko, "I hope he'll be all right."

"Sorry about what I said earlier," said Hyroki, his usual bratty nature gone, "I was just being stupid; I had no idea. No hard feelings, Yumi?"

"No hard feelings," said Yumi, "It's not your fault you're so stupid."

Hyroki made a face. "I guess I had that coming," he murmured.

Yumi tried to convince her family that she was fine, but in reality, she was terrified. Even though the car ride only took a half hour, it felt like an eternity to Yumi. She didn't know if Ulrich was infected, or if he'd have to lose his leg, or if he'd ever be able to walk again, or… or worse… Yumi dreaded to imagine it. She didn't think that a bullet in his leg would be anything fatal, but he'd lost an outrageous amount of blood. True, he could get blood transfusions, but still… It just wasn't something she wanted to think about. Yumi had never been so scared in her life. She didn't want her parents to worry, so she kept her fears bottled up inside, and repeated to herself in her mind that Ulrich would be fine. It was the only thing she could do to keep from breaking down and crying.

**

"A wild turkey?" Aelita asked as Odd landed on Lyoko.

"It was vicious!" said Odd defensively as he killed a Kankrelat.

"Odd," said Aelita, "You can just say what really took you so long."

"I was in the bathroom," said Odd.

"I knew it," said Jeremie.

"What?" Odd whined, "When you gotta go, you gotta go!"

"Just help me get rid of these things," said Aelita.

"I've been waiting to do this," Odd said to himself, cracking his knuckles. Though he wasn't sure they were called knuckles on paws. Either way, he cracked them, and leapt on top of a Megatank.

"Lazer arrow!" Odd shouted, blasting the Megatank right on the eye and blowing it up. The impact of the explosion threw him into the air, and Odd grabbed the top of a nearby Krabe. He pulled himself up, and shot the Krabe five times. Odd found himself flying again after it blew up, and he killed a Hornet in mid-air, and then gracefully landed on all fours.

"Nice work, Odd," said Aelita.

"That's the Odd Della Robia way," Odd said with a wink.

"So you've gotten four so far?" Aelita asked.

"Yup," Odd stated with pride.

"I killed seven," said Aelita in a taunting tone.

"You're on," said Odd, "Lazer arrow!"

Odd started blasting all the Hornets in sight. They weren't too hard to destroy, so he'd be able to catch up to Aelita in no time. Odd always felt more motivated fighting XANA when there was competition involved. There were eight Hornets, so Odd was sure to win this. He'd have fourteen and Aelita would still be stuck with seven. Maybe by that time, she'd be up to ten, but still, Odd would be winning by four. Odd paused for a moment, unsure if that was right. Four plus eight wasn't fourteen, was it? No, it was twelve. Okay, so he'd only be ahead by two. But still, he'd be winning.

"Lazer arrow!" Odd yelled, and killed all of them in ten shots. Odd smiled, pleased with himself.

"That's twelve," Odd said to Aelita. He turned in her direction, and much to his dismay, Aelita had gotten rid of the three remaining Krabes, two Kankrelats, and all four Bloks.

"Sixteen," Aelita said with a grin.

**

"Your boyfriend's waking up… Ow!"

"Ulrich. Hey, Ulrich."

"Can you hear me?"

"Ulrich?"

The voices were quiet and distorted at first, but after a few seconds they started to sound more natural. The figures that surrounded him grew brighter and sharper, and soon Ulrich could see Yumi, Hyroki, their parents, and a doctor hovering over him.

"Wha…?" Ulrich mumbled, disoriented. He looked around at an unfamiliar room and saw an IV sticking out of his arm. He didn't know where he was at first, but he soon remembered that he was in a hospital.

"How do you feel?" Yumi asked, smiling at him.

"Okay, I guess…" said Ulrich, "What happened?"

"We were able to remove the bullet," said the doctor, "It'll take some time for you to recover. "

"How much time?" Ulrich asked, worried that he'd be stuck in bed while XANA was still on the move.

"They said it'd be about a week until you get your strength back," said Yumi, "Then you'll be able to leave the hospital and go back to school, but you'll be in a wheelchair for a while."

"Is that just an estimate?" Ulrich asked sternly, "Is it possible for me to leave any sooner?"

"Well" said the doctor, scratching her head, "It all depends how you're feeling, really. You're pretty weak right now, and you'll need blood transfusions and plenty of rest."

"I feel fine," said Ulrich, trying to get up, "Just get me the wheelchair so I can get out of here."

"Ulrich," Yumi said softly, motioning for him to lie down, "Just take it easy. No one's rushing you to get better."

"Don't push yourself, Ulrich," said the doctor, "That won't help."

"You don't understand," Ulrich said, raising his voice, "I have things I need to do. I can't stay here!"

"We called your dad," said Hyroki, "He says he can get some tutors to come here until you go back to school, so there's no need to worry about your grades."

Ulrich frowned. Any other father would just let his son rest as long as he needed to, but not this one. Ulrich's father would make him study even if he was in the hospital. He'd never give him a break. True, it was pretty lenient for _him_, but still, Ulrich wasn't pleased.

"Take all the time you need," said Yumi, knowing exactly what Ulrich meant. He did worry about his grades and his father, but that was nothing compared to XANA's return. Ulrich couldn't just leave the others to fight XANA on their own. He couldn't. He wouldn't. He'd let them down so many times before. Not again. It just wasn't right. They needed him, now more than ever. This was no time to give up because of a little mishap like this. But Yumi and the doctor were both right. He couldn't even stand up, let alone fight XANA. He was in pretty bad shape right now, so helping his friends was a lost cause. Still, Ulrich hated the thought of being bed-ridden.

"Don't be so upset," said Yumi, putting a hand on Ulrich's shoulder, "Being in a hospital's not all bad. Sure, there's all the IV's and blood tests and pills and stuff, but as long as they have the right channels and video games, it's a pretty good vacation. You've been working really hard lately, and you've earned it."

"Thanks," said Ulrich, forcing a weak smile. It was nice of her to try and cheer him up, and it would have worked if XANA hadn't come back to life. But with the battle going on, he just couldn't make himself happy.

"Get some sleep," said Yumi, "We'll be back tomorrow."

"See you then," said Ulrich. He settled into his bed as the Ishiyamas departed and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the sea of worry that filled his thoughts.

**I've been in the hospital before after appendectomy, and that's basically my philosophy. Despite the hospital-ness (and tubes up your nose _) it's a pretty good vacation. Then again, I didn't have XANA to worry about then… **


	9. Chapter 9

**At last, I give you an update! I mentioned that I'd fix my plothole earlier, and now I have. Go me!**

Chapter 9

"Aelita!" Odd called, blowing up the final Megatank, "The Megatanks are gone! Go for the tower! I'll hold off the Mantas!"

The only monsters left were three Mantas, so Aelita could now enter the tower safely. She wondered if she had won their little competition; she had forgotten about it after a while, but it was likely that Odd was counting all the way through so he could brag about it later.

Aelita stepped into the activated tower. She walked across the floor, lighting up the Eye of XANA, and floated up to the next level. The screen came up, and Aelita laid her hand on it, inputting her name. It blinked a few times, and then changed to the code. Aelita promptly entered in "Code: LYOKO."

Aelita sighed with relief, and waited for Jeremie to launch the return trip. She could hardly believe all that was over.

She waited.

And waited.

And waited…

"Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"It's not working," Jeremie replied, "I don't know what's wrong…"

"So we can't go back in time?" Aelita asked.

"XANA must have disabled it," said Jeremie, "So now we have to explain to Jim and all the other teachers why we've been gone for the rest of the day."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Aelita said, "After all, Ulrich being in the hospital pretty much sums it up."

"I guess," said Jeremie, "But I was hoping we could use the Return To The Past to heal him. Now he's stuck in the hospital for who knows how long."

"Yeah," said Aelita, "I feel really bad for him…"

"Me too," said Jeremie, "But, Ulrich aside, didn't you have something to do here?"

Aelita paused. She had nearly forgotten. Her mother was still on Lyoko. Without delay, she walked out of the tower. She didn't even ask Jeremie where the guardian was. She still had somewhat of a telepathic link to Lyoko. Her mother was nearby, she could sense it.

As Aelita flew across the ice sector, she could feel herself getting closer and closer. She had never realized just how quickly she could fly, because she had never been this determined. After crossing miles of water and ice, Aelita saw a faint glow out in the distance. There it was. Aelita increased her speed, not wanting to wait another second. The shape of her mother grew clearer and clearer…

Aelita retracted her wings and landed gracefully on the ground, right next to the guardian. Without a doubt, inside, floating and dormant, was Antea Schaeffer. Aelita reached out to touch her, but swiped her hand back as the guardian shocked her. This was going to be difficult. Guardians always were.

Aelita smiled as she remembered. When a guardian had Yumi, Aelita fooled it by creating a false image of her. Aelita knelt to the ground and began to form the image of her mother. But just as she had finished, a beam of fire erupted from the guardian, disintegrating the copy, and thereafter shooting Aelita.

Clearly XANA hadn't forgotten that little trick. Great. So now what was she supposed to do?

"Jeremie," said Aelita, "Do you have any idea how to get her out of here?"

"Not one," said Jeremie, "Sorry, Aelita."

Aelita stared at her sleeping mother, wishing with all her heart to free her. Knowing that she was alive and not being with her was unbearable. There were countless times when XANA created fakes of her father and given her false hope. And now he had to go and shove a fake mother in her face. It was like he was taunting her. Aelita didn't want any more heartbreak. She couldn't face the pain of being alone. Not again.

Suddenly, Aelita was caught off-guard as the guardian flew up into the air and disappeared into the distance. It didn't simply fly beyond Aelita's vision, it literally vanished into thin air.

"Jeremie!" Aelita called, panicked, "What just happened? Has she been destroyed?!"

"Calm down," said Jeremie, "She's still alive. That wasn't disintegration, it was a teleport."

"A teleport? To where?"

"I can't tell… But she's definitely still on Lyoko."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because you're not the only thing giving off signs of life."

"What about Odd?" Aelita asked, "Are you sure it's not him?"

"Not me," said Odd's voice, startling Aelita so much that she nearly jumped.

"He's here in the lab," said Jeremie.

So that was where Odd went. He had disappeared after Aelita came back out of the tower. He must have been devirtualized.

"So it's definitely my mother?" Aelita asked.

"It has to be," said Jeremie.

"What does XANA want with her?" Aelita asked.

"He probably wants to make a ransom with us," said Jeremie, "Which means she's still safe. We'll need to think of a plan, but not now. I think we've done enough for today."

"I guess it is getting late," said Aelita, "You're right, Jeremie. We should get back to school."

Aelita was devirtualized, and no sooner than when she arrived at Kadic did she find herself asleep in her bed.

**

Ulrich awoke the next morning to the sound of people talking outside his room. He couldn't tell who they were or what they were saying, but, a few minutes later, the nurse returned, informing Ulrich that he had visitors.

"Let them in," he urged, glad to see his friends again. As the nurse exited the room and sent them in, he wondered who had come to see him. Was it Jeremie and Aelita? Had they stopped the attack? Or had Odd returned to annoy him?

"Hello, Mr. Stern," said a voice.

That was a voice Ulrich didn't recognize. It was the voice of a man, deep and rough. Ulrich gasped. It couldn't be…

To Ulrich's horror, in stepped the Men in Black who had shot him. And the nurse wasn't with them.

There would be no witnesses.

"Well?" Ulrich asked after the men stood there in silence for a few seconds, "What are you doing here? Have you come to finish the job?"

"If we wanted you dead," said the bald one, "We would have killed your mother _fourteen years ago_. That's not what we're here for."

"And besides," said the other, "We're the only ones here. If a doctor came in and found you dead, it would be obvious that we were the ones who killed you."

"Then be clear," said Ulrich, "Why are you here?"

"We couldn't get anything out of your pink-haired friend," said the first one, "So we thought we'd have better luck with someone else."

"I don't know where Franz Hopper's Diary is," said Ulrich rigidly, "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"I wasn't referring to you."

"Then why did you come to see me?" Ulrich asked.

"Because we need the location of your friend, Mr. Belpois," said the second one, "He knows exactly where the diary is. He used to spend about 30 percent of his time watching it. The boy was obsessed with that man's past. He most likely still has it, and if not, surely he at least knows where it is. However, this little boy genius' whereabouts have yet to be discovered. Now, tell us, Ulrich. Where is he now?"

"How should I know?" Ulrich asked in an arrogant tone, "I'm not his babysitter. I don't keep him on a leash. You think I have any better ideas than you?"

"Perhaps not," the man said, "but you'll see him again, won't you, Ulrich? He'll come here to visit you soon enough. And when he does… We'll be waiting."

Ulrich scowled. "If you lay one hand on Jeremie-"

"You'll what?" the second man interrupted. He looked at the wheelchair in the corner, then back at Ulrich. "Are you really trying to threaten us?"

Ulrich gulped. They were right. He couldn't possibly be a danger to them. Not like this. He was completely helpless. He couldn't run. He couldn't walk. He couldn't even stand up. How could he protect Jeremie when he couldn't even protect himself?

"And," the first man added, "Just to be safe…" He took Ulrich's phone from the bedside table and put it in his pocket. "Don't even think about contacting him," he said.

"We'll be back tomorrow," said the other, and he and his accomplice walked out the door.

Ulrich's heart began pounding, and his breathing grew heavy. They would be back tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that… They'd keep coming back. And they'd never stop until Jeremie showed up. Ulrich had to warn him. If he didn't… He may never see Jeremie again.

How was Ulrich going to escape? He didn't have a phone, or enough time to wait for Yumi or Odd to come. He had to get out of there _now_. But how?

Ulrich looked across from him. There was the wheelchair.

It wouldn't be easy, but it was the only way.

**So what's Ulrich's plan? I'm trying to write what would be a zoom-in on the wheelchair with dramatic music playing, but I'm not sure it was that clear… And what of Antea? Where has XANA taken her? Oh, by the way, the whole plan I had for Kadic doing Wicked is kind of a lost cause now… I had planned for Jeremie's pulley thing to break, and then Yumi would fall and break her leg, but then that stupid Man in Black decided to shoot Ulrich and wrecked my plan. Now what am I supposed to do with that?? Agg… I found out that it's not the author who decides what happens in the story. I just write it down. I have no control over the characters… That's good, right…? Anyways, stay tuned, reader. Stay tuned…**


	10. Chapter 10

**And here be chapter ten! Ulrich's great escape! Or something like that…**

Chapter 10

"I had another dream last night," Aelita said to Jeremie after about three minutes of silence at breakfast.

Jeremie looked up from his pancakes. So that was what was wrong. Aelita hadn't said anything since she had greeted him earlier, and Jeremie had assumed she was just tired, or worried about Ulrich and Antea. Aelita usually didn't like to talk about it when something was bothering her, so Jeremie didn't say anything either. Odd was still asleep, so he wasn't there to break the silence. He and Aelita were alone right now—well, not _alone_ alone, they were in the cafeteria, but they were the only ones at their table, fairly secluded from the rest of the school—so he felt a bit awkward talking to her. But now that she had spoken up, he realized she needed him to.

"I thought something was wrong," said Jeremie, "What was the dream about?"

"Well," Aelita began, "It started out on Lyoko, in this kind of no-place… And then I saw my mother there. I tried to follow her, but she kept running away… And I saw her start transforming into… I can't exactly remember what she looked like. It's slipping away. But then she disappeared, and I went to the hospital to go visit Ulrich, and he was gone. I don't really know if those two events are supposed to connect. I thought maybe whatever it was my mother turned into had to do with Ulrich's disappearance. I called him when I woke up to make sure he was okay, and he didn't answer. He was probably asleep, but still, it's really starting to bug me."

"So you think that dream means something's happened to both of them?" Jeremie asked.

"Last time I dreamt about Lyoko," Aelita said, "It ended up coming true. That was when I lost my father. What if I'm about to lose my mother, and Ulrich, too?"

Jeremie's eyes bulged. That was true. When Aelita had dreams like this, they predicted the future. Jeremie didn't know how they did; maybe it had to do with her telepathic link to Lyoko. But if Aelita had interpreted this dream correctly, then they had to figure something out. Maybe she didn't interpret it correctly. Maybe…

"Maybe Ulrich didn't get kidnapped or killed," said Jeremie, "Maybe he left."

Aelita raised an eyebrow. "But why would he do that?" she asked.

"You know him," said Jeremie, "He's really dedicated to our mission. If he could think of a way to help, he'd do it."

"Do you really think he could?" Aelita asked.

"Could what?" asked a high-pitched voice from behind, catching Jeremie and Aelita off-guard. Jeremie screamed and jumped out of his seat.

"ODD!" Aelita screeched, her reaction about the same as Jeremie's, "How long have you been standing there?!"

"Well," said Odd, "Seeing as I asked a question regarding what you were talking about, one can only assume that I haven't been here for more than five seconds."

"That sounded uncharacteristically intelligent," said Jeremie.

"You gonna finish that pancake?" Odd asked.

"There's Odd," Aelita grinned.

"Maybe if you got up earlier," said Jeremie, "You wouldn't have to steal food from other people."

"I only get hungry when I'm fully awake," said Odd, "Now can I have that pancake, pleeeaaase?"

"Fine," said Jeremie, pushing his remaining pancake over to Odd.

"So," said Odd, stuffing his face, "You still haven't answered my other question."

"We were talking about Ulrich," said Aelita, "I had a dream where I went to see him in the hospital and he wasn't there."

"…Which means one of three things," Jeremie continued, "He's either left, been kidnapped, or dead."

"Oh," said Odd, wolfing down a glass of milk, "Cool."

"Were you even listening?" Jeremie asked, tapping Odd on the head.

"Huh?" Odd asked, pancake crumbs escaping his mouth. Jeremie repeated what he and Aelita had said.

"How do you know you didn't have that dream because you were stressed or anything like that?" Odd asked.

"Don't you remember what happened last time I had a dream like this?" Aelita asked.

"Oh…" said Odd, his face suddenly becoming somber as he remembered the loss of Franz Hopper, "Yeah, your dreams are special, aren't they?"

Aelita shrugged. "I guess they are."

"Did you try calling him to make sure he's okay?" Odd asked.

"As soon as I woke up," said Aelita, "But he didn't answer. I mean, he was probably still asleep, but…"

"We were thinking he might have left," said Jeremie, "He gets really upset when he can't help us, so it makes sense."

"But how could he do that?" Odd wondered.

"That's what we were just trying to figure out," said Jeremie.

"Try calling him again," said Odd.

"I was thinking that, too," said Jeremie. He pulled out his phone and dialed Ulrich's number.

RING.

RING.

Jeremie grew impatient.

RING.

This was getting annoying.

RING.

RING.

RING.

RING.

RING.

Was Ulrich ever going to answer?

"Hello," said Ulrich's voice, and Jeremie started to speak, but stopped as he realized this was just his voicemail. "You've just reached Ulrich Stern. I'm not here right—"

Jeremie hung up and called again. After a few more seconds of that stupid incessant ringing, he heard someone pick up.

"Ulrich?" Jeremie asked.

"Hello, Mr. Belpois."

Jeremie gasped and immediately terminated his call. That wasn't Ulrich's voice.

"Hey, Jeremie, you okay?" asked Odd, "You look kind of pale. Who was that?"

"It was…" Jeremie began. He could hardly speak. He was sure he knew who answered. If he was right, then that meant Ulrich was in trouble. Big trouble. Jeremie finally finished his sentence, heart pounding.

"It was a Man in Black."

**

Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd all bolted from street to street, gasping for air, trying to get to Ulrich before it was too late. If Ulrich was running away, he was probably heading for Kadic, so it was likely that they would run into each other at some point.

"Which way do we go?!" Jeremie asked, panting as they came to an intersection.

"Yes, Mr. Infallible-sense-of-direction," Aelita added, "Which way?"

"Ummm…" Odd mused, "Left!"

"Ummm?" Aelita repeated, "Why the hesitation?!"

"Are you sure?" Jeremie asked.

"Even an infallible sense of direction needs time to think!" Odd defended.

"Alright, alright," said Jeremie, "Left it is!"

Aelita's head was throbbing as she ran, both from exhaustion and from anxiety. What if Ulrich wasn't running away? If the Men in Black had his phone, who was to say that they didn't have him as well? They'd hurt him badly enough already…

What were the chances that Ulrich was even alive?

**

Ulrich couldn't believe the day he was having. First he had to roll off of his bed and drag himself onto the wheelchair, causing him great pain. Then he had to sneak out of the room and find an elevator. Then it turned out the elevator was out of order, so he had to use the stairs, which was just delightful. Then came more sneaking around in a squeaky wheelchair, with no idea where he was going. When he finally found his way outside, he had to wait on the sidewalk for who knows how long just to be able to cross the street. He wasn't even sure how to get back to Kadic. So there he was, wheeling around like a wild man, trying to figure out which way to go.

_Just remember it's all worth it, _Ulrich thought to himself, trying to keep from losing his temper. He was doing this to save Jeremie, so it was worth all the aggravation. Ulrich wheeled across the street as the traffic light turned red, desperately hoping that he was going in the right direction. He really wished he could walk right now. Then he'd be a lot faster. Ulrich looked back and forth, making sure he was safe.

Suddenly, the light turned green.

Ulrich panicked at first, but then he tried to calm down, telling himself there was no way that the drivers wouldn't see him. Or so he thought.

A big red semi-truck started driving towards him. Ulrich gasped, desperately turning the wheels for his life. He felt a sudden burst of speed, and in no time he was safe at the sidewalk. The truck zoomed behind him. Ulrich began panting, still in shock from his near-death situation.

"You okay?" asked a voice.

"Huh?" Ulrich asked. He looked behind him, and was stunned to see who it was.

"Yumi?!" He asked. So that was why he got faster all of sudden. Yumi pushed him.

"I leave you alone for one day and you jump in front of a truck!" Yumi said as she hugged him.

"Thanks for saving me," said Ulrich, "How'd you find me?"

"Aelita called and said you were missing," said Yumi, letting go of him, "And she thought that the Men in Black might have kidnapped you or you just ran off or something."

"The Men in Black," Ulrich said, "They're after Jeremie! They came by earlier this morning and asked me where he was. They said they'd keep coming back until he came to visit me. They took my phone, so I couldn't just call him to warn him. I had to go tell him in person."

"They really want that diary," said Yumi.

"Anyway," said Ulrich, "Now that you know what's going on, you can tell Jeremie. I'd better go back before anyone finds out I'm gone."

"You can't go back there, Ulrich," Yumi protested, "It's not safe anymore. Not with them stalking you. You've got to hide."

"But if they find out I'm gone, they're gonna know I ran off."

"And what do you think could happen if they never find Jeremie there? They'll still know something's up. The best way to get to Jeremie is by threatening one of us. You're injured right now, which makes you the perfect hostage. We can't risk that."

"So what you're saying is that no matter where I go, we're pretty much doomed?"

"But we're less doomed if you just keep running," said Yumi.

"Guess I'm a refugee now," said Ulrich.

"Pretty much," said Yumi.

"Fantastic," Ulrich moaned, "So should we call the others and tell them where we are to try and figure out how all this is gonna work?"

"Best not," said Yumi, "The Men in Black can probably track a phone call."

"So we have to go looking for them?"

"Unfortunately," Yumi replied, "And since Odd thinks he has a GPS installed into his brain, he's probably leading the way."

"This is gonna take a while," said Ulrich.

**

"Turn right!" Odd called to his comrades on their quest for Ulrich.

"Are you sure?" Jeremie asked.

"Stop asking me that!!" Odd snapped.

"But ARE YOU SURE?" Aelita repeated.

"I know where I'm going!" Odd said, "Yes, I'm sure!"

"Alright, then…" Aelita murmured.

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice!" Odd whined, "You're making me nervous!"

"Don't look at— What?!"

"I don't know!" Odd yelled, "Okay, now left!"

Aelita and Jeremie finally stopped arguing and did as Odd said.

"And this is your final destination!" Odd stated with pride.

"ODD!!" Jeremie yelled.

"What?" Odd asked, wondering why Jeremie and Aelita weren't singing his praises.

"Look where you just led us, Odd," Aelita said.

Odd turned around and gaped in awe. Even though it wasn't where he was originally planning to go, it was exactly where he wanted to be. He almost dropped to his knees and bowed down in worship to the beautiful temple of glory.

"YOU TOOK US TO MCDONALD'S!!!!!" Jeremie screamed.

"I'm sorry!" Odd defended, "My stomach is stronger than my internal compass!"

"Nice going, Odd," Aelita fumed, "Do you have any idea where the hospital is?"

"Yes!" Odd said.

"Okay, then," said Aelita, calming down a bit, "Let's go."

"Wait, wait, wait!!" Odd griped, "I haven't eaten in a whole hour! Can we at least stop and get a double cheeseburger while we're here?"

"NO!" Jeremie yelled.

**Isn't Odd just wonderfully stupid? Contrary to most opinions, I, in fact, love McDonald's. It's awesome. Even though my health teacher calls it "poo on a bun" I still think it tastes good. I don't really care how fat it might make me in the future (Like Odd, my metabolism is off the charts :P)… Anyway, how's Ulrich gonna do as a fugitive? Why am I constantly asking you questions that I should know the answers to???**


	11. Chapter 11

**YEAH! AN UPDATE IS HERE! XD They're constantly getting farther and farther apart. Not just with this one; with all my stories. Sorry… School prevents many of us from having lives. Especially exam week. But now I've finally finished this chapter. Yay! We left off at Odd's wonderful stupidity…**

Chapter 11

"Let's see…" Yumi mused, "I know Odd's not leading them in the right direction, so where would he take them?"

Yumi and Ulrich exchanged glances, then immediately got the same idea. They both knew where Odd would go, and they both said the obvious answer.

"Food."

* * *

"We're getting close!" said Odd.

"We'd better be," Aelita grumbled.

"Okay, Odd," Jeremie said as they came to another intersection, "Now which—"

"I see him!" Aelita shouted, "I see him!"

"What?" Jeremie asked, "Where is he?"

"Over there!" Aelita answered, "Look!"

"Are you sure it's Ulrich?" Odd asked.

"He's wearing a hospital robe and he's in a wheelchair," said Aelita, "Who else could it be?"

"That _is_ him!" Jeremie said, "And Yumi's with him, too!"

The three dashed over to Ulrich and Yumi, waving their arms and screaming to them. As they got closer, Ulrich and Yumi finally saw them, and began running full speed ahead. Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd all jumped on top of Ulrich in a group hug.

"We were so worried about you!" said Aelita.

"Yeah," said Ulrich, "It's great to see you guys… But you're crushing me... Please get off… You're heavy…"

"Oh," said Jeremie, "Um… Sorry."

"How'd you find us?" Aelita asked, "We'd been going the wrong way!"

"Well, we kind of figured Odd would be leading the way," said Yumi, "So we decided to check McDonald's to see if he ended up taking you there."

"That's weird," Odd said, "That IS where we were!"

"Your stupidity's kind of predictable," said Ulrich.

"It's great to see you, too, buddy," said Odd, ruffling Ulrich's hair. Ulrich smirked and pushed Odd, who responded by pushing him back.

"Um…" said Aelita, "Hate to break up the love fest, but we still need you to tell us just what's going on. Why are you running away? And what have the Men in Black got to do with it?"

"Well," Ulrich began, "This morning, the ones who shot me came to visit."

"And you had to escape?" Jeremie asked.

"That's one reason," said Ulrich, "But there's more, Jeremie. The Men in Black wanted to know about Franz Hopper's diary. They knew I had no idea, so instead of asking me where it was, they asked me where you were. They thought that since Aelita wouldn't tell them, they'd have better luck with you. And when I wouldn't say where you were, they just said they'd keep coming back until you showed up. And that's when I ran away. I had to warn you before it was too late."

"That explains why the Man in Black answered when I tried to call you," said Jeremie, "They took your phone so you wouldn't try to contact me, is that right?"

Yumi nodded. "And I think that's a good sign we shouldn't use our phones until we can get rid of those guys. We don't want them tracking us down. We need to get back to school and keep Ulrich hidden at all costs. If we know the Men in Black, it should be obvious that they'll do whatever it takes to get what they want, even if it means hurting Ulrich. He's the perfect hostage right now, so until he heals, he's pretty much a fugitive."

Jeremie pondered Yumi's words. She was absolutely right. The Men in Black could do whatever they wanted to Ulrich if they found him, and of course, if that were to happen, Jeremie would give in. And so they had to hide Ulrich so this opportunity wouldn't be given. But this still didn't seem like enough.

"I don't think they'd stop at Ulrich," said Jeremie, "Just because he's the most vulnerable of us doesn't mean they can't take someone else if they have to. I think that, like it or not, we're _all_ fugitives now."

"You're right," said Yumi, "I didn't remember being a Lyoko Warrior was this dangerous… So basically we're all in peril here?"

"Yup," said Odd.

"Man," said Ulrich, "We _need_ to get rid of XANA, and fast."

"So what are we gonna tell everyone when they see Ulrich back in school already?" Yumi asked, "I mean, he's not supposed to be out of the hospital for at least a week."

"Oh…" Odd said, "That's a good question…"

* * *

Ulrich wheeled into Kadic, unsure of what was about to happen. But he got a pretty good idea when Sissi came running up to him.

"Ulrich!" she squealed, squeezing him, "They let you out of the hospital early! Why?"

"My dad…" Ulrich stuttered, "Um… convinced them to let me return to my studies…"

"Yay!" Sissi shrieked, "Now I can help you heal, Ulrich, dear! Hehehe!"

"Okay… That's great…"

"Aren't you sooo excited?"

"Ecstatic," said Ulrich flatly.

Sissi squealed some more, and promptly jumped into his lap, squeezing him tighter.

"Ack!" Ulrich yelped, "Sissi, get off me! That's my bad leg! THAT'S MY BAD LEG!"

"I love you, Ulrich-y!"

"Ulrich-y?" Ulrich repeated, "When did you start calling-? Get-! GET OFF!"

Sissi jumped off, causing great pain, and walked away.

"See you late-e-er!" she sang out to him.

"Please don't see me later," Ulrich mumbled.

Just as Sissi disappeared down the hall, Herb and Nicholas came stomping up towards Ulrich.

"Well, well, well, 'Ulrich-y,'" Herb said, cracking his knuckles.

"Now, now," Ulrich stammered, "You guys really wouldn't beat up a cripple, would you?"

"Watch me," Herb grinned.

* * *

"Well, _that_ won't work," Jeremie decided, apparently having a similar daydream to Ulrich's.

"So, then," said Odd, "If school's not an option, then where are we—"

"Wait a second," Yumi, interrupted, "Ulrich, you still need all those blood transfusions and pills and stuff. What are we gonna do about that?"

"Blood transfusions are already taken care of," said Ulrich, "And the pills…" Ulrich pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket marked "Stern."

"Nice," said Odd.

"And as for a place to hide," Ulrich said, "What about Lyoko?"

"Lyoko?" Jeremie asked.

Lyoko… Could they actually do that? Could they actually virtualize Ulrich and keep him there? XANA's monsters wouldn't possibly allow it. But it worked for Aelita all those years ago, didn't it? And she wasn't even armed. So, if Ulrich just stayed inside towers, then maybe…

"That's crazy," said Jeremie, "So crazy that it just might work…"

* * *

"Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Odd.

"Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Aelita. Scanner Odd.

"Virtualization!"

Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Odd landed in the desert.

"So, Einstein," Odd said, "Remind us again why we're all being virtualized and not just Ulrich?"

"Just a safety precaution," said Jeremie, "If anything goes wrong for Ulrich, you'll all be here to help him out."

"We've never had anyone wounded on Lyoko before," said Aelita, "So we're not sure if he'll still be injured or not."

"'Kay," said Odd, "So, then, cripple, how're you—WHOA! ULRICH, YOU HAVE PIXELS COMING OUT OF YOU!"

"What the-?" Ulrich yelled, and fell down. Just as Odd said, pixels were zipping out of his leg.

"Ulrich!" Yumi shrieked, running over to him. Aelita and Odd followed, and the three tried to gently lay him down.

"JEREMIE!" Odd called, "MAYDAY! S.O.S.! WE HAVE A MAN DOWN! REPEAT! MAN DOWN! WE NEED A VEHICLE! OVERBIKE! OVERWING! OVERBOARD! OVER HERE! NOOOWWW! ULRICH MUST SIT! ROGER ROGER! ROGER VICTOR OVER HOUSTON!"

"Odd!" Yumi yelled, "What are you talking about? You're just blabbering nonsense!"

"ROGER VICTOR OVER HUGO BRAVO CHARLIE FOXTROT!"

"ODD!" Yumi yelled again.

"INDIA GOLF NINER-NINER! KUMBAYA!"

"Jeremie!" Aelita called, "Do something before Odd's panic attack causes him to jump into the Digital Sea!"

"SWEET HOME ALABAMA!"

"ODD!" Ulrich bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

"VIVA LAS VEGAS!"

"I'm designing a vehicle, Odd!" Jeremie screamed, "Calm yourself!"

"Okay," said Odd innocently.

"Designing?" Yumi asked, "Why?"

"The OverBike has pedals," Aelita explained, using Creativity to create a cast for Ulrich, "And the OverWing and the OverBoard you have to stand on. Ulrich needs something more suitable for his condition."

"Ulrich," Jeremie said, "I'm programming your new vehicle now."

Ulrich watched as the wire frame of some sort of hover-chair appeared above him.

"I give you the OverChair," Jeremie announced.

"Just rub it in, why don't you?" Ulrich asked.

"Sit, boy," Odd commanded. Ulrich gave Odd the evil eye and sat.

"How does it feel, Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"Actually, it feels rather cozy," Ulrich replied.

"It feels rather cozy," Odd mocked in a highly uncharacteristic British accent.

"I'll talk how I want!" Ulrich snapped.

"Aw," said Odd, "Cripple's mad at me."

"Hmm," Ulrich contemplated, reaching over to a joystick with a button on top of it on the armrest, "What's this button do?" He pressed the button and a laser fired from the armrest at the giant purple cat.

"AAH!" Odd shrieked, jumping out of the way just in time for the laser to zip past his face, "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

"Good kitty," Ulrich teased.

"So he's gonna have to stay here until when exactly?" Yumi asked.

"I'd say about a week or two," said Jeremie, "We're only keeping him here because it's the one place where no one can find him. And him being on Lyoko might make things easier regarding his healing process. I might be able to help since he's in virtual form."

"Okay," said Ulrich, "I stay here and hide from the Men in Black and you work on programs to heal my injury, I get all that. But there's one thing I still don't quite understand."

"What's that?" Jeremie asked.

"What the heck am I supposed to _do_ in the meantime?"

"Ummm…" Jeremie said.

"People stuck in their house for long periods of time are reduced to counting spoons to keep from losing their minds! And after that they lose their minds, anyway."

"And there are no spoons to count on Lyoko," Odd added.

"I could render up some spoons if you wanted," said Jeremie.

"I don't want any spoons!" Ulrich snapped, "My point is that it's impossible to stay on Lyoko for that long without going insane."

Aelita raised an eyebrow. "Ahem!"

"Oh," said Ulrich, "Sorry…"

"You hadn't experienced the world," said Odd, "So you weren't really missing anything."

"Staying in a tower for two weeks is gonna make me claustrophobic," said Ulrich.

"We'll stop by every now and then to keep you company," Yumi reassured.

"Is that a promise?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi laughed. "It's a promise."

"Don't worry," Aelita added, "You won't go insane; you have our word."

"Okay, then," said Ulrich, "Now just one last question. Since we can't return to the past anymore… How are you all gonna explain why you missed school today?"

Odd grimaced. "Oh… My list of excuses is back in the lab."

"You have a list of excuses?" Yumi asked.

"For these cases," said Odd.

"For your sake, it'd better be just these cases," said Ulrich.

"You don't trust me?" Odd whined.

"Since you asked," said Ulrich, "Not really, no."

"ANYWAY," Yumi interrupted, "What's on the list?"

"Well," said Odd, "Going outside and getting mauled by a man-bear…"

"Really?" Aelita asked, annoyed with such oddity.

"Well, that was an early one," Odd defended.

"What's one of your more reasonable excuses?" Jeremie asked.

"Ummm… Well… Hmmm… Reasonable…" After a moment of thought, Odd slumped. "I got nothing."

"You're a big help," said Yumi.

"Well, what about this?" Odd asked, "People are gonna find out Ulrich's missing, so…"

* * *

"And just when did you find out Ulrich was missing?" asked Principal Delmas.

"Yumi told us this morning," Odd replied.

"She went to the hospital before school to go see him," Jeremie continued, "and when she saw that he wasn't there, she called us."

"We had to go looking for him," Aelita finished.

"Was he found?" asked Principal Delmas.

"No, sir," Aelita answered.

"So if I were to call Miss Ishiyama right now, she'd tell me the exact same thing?" the principal asked.

The three of them nodded.

Principal Delmas sighed. "I can never tell with the five of you. You have quite a history of missing classes, and occasionally even a full day, like this. But you do always have a reasonable explanation, so if Yumi does confirm everything you just told me, I'll let you off the hook."

"So is there any way we can make it up?" Aelita asked.

"I'll make sure your teachers give you something to catch up on what you missed," said the principal.

Fortunately, they had everything worked out. Odd finally came up with a story that they could use. Yumi repeated the story over the phone to Principal Delmas, who then kept his word and gave each of them an excused absence.

"How long do you think it'll take until all this blows over?" Odd asked as they walked back up to Jeremie's dorm.

"I'm sure the Men in Black will suspect foul play," said Jeremie, "So it might take a while. But there's no way that they'll be able to get to Ulrich when he's on Lyoko."

"I know that," said Aelita, "Even if they figure out that's where he is, they won't be able to reach him. He's safe… But… He's not the only one they're after."

"Huh?" Jeremie asked.

"You may not remember this, Jeremie, but the reason Ulrich was running in the first place was because of you. He was trying to warn you… They want anyone who knows where my father's diary is, and you're one of those people. So I'm not as worried about Ulrich as I am about… About you."

"Me…?" Jeremie repeated, confused, "Aelita, you…"

Aelita turned away. "What if they find you?"

Jeremie paused, uncertain of how to respond. Aelita looked perhaps near tears at this point, which pressured him even more to say something. But she was right; he was in danger. Jeremie hadn't realized this before, and so now that Aelita had pointed it out, he was almost as afraid as she was.

He had been in this position before so many times… Back when Aelita was trapped in Lyoko, so utterly defenseless and vulnerable. And even after that, Jeremie had still worried countless times for Aelita's life.

What was his consolation?

"Aelita…" Jeremie said, laying a hand on her shoulder, "You know that I've had these same worries about you, don't you? I understand how you feel… I don't know what I'd do if anything were to happen to you. But just look at the way things have turned out for us. We've already spent two years risking our lives like this. And not once were the odds so critically against us that we couldn't endure it. Even when we thought we'd lost… We still lived through it… _You_ still lived through it." Jeremie knew that Aelita remembered what he was referring to. "And even now," Jeremie went on, "After a whole year of lost experience, we're still alive. Even during one of the most dangerous encounters of our lives, by some miracle… We actually seem to be winning. If we can stand up to XANA, then surely we can stand up to the Men in Black. We'll get through this… together."

Aelita finally looked back at Jeremie. And not only that; she walked into his embrace and stood there.

"Together," Aelita repeated.

The two stayed that way for what seemed like forever. Neither wanted to move…

For the first time since all this began… They felt safe.

"You guys do know you're not the only ones here, right?" asked Odd.

Jeremie and Aelita quickly detached themselves from each other, severely embarrassed.

"Together," Odd mocked. Aelita smacked him on the back of the head.

"Shut up, Odd."

**I love it when a chapter ends in "Shut up, Odd…" Tee-hee. Now the wait begins again. Sorry. Life is pain… Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is selling something… **


	12. Chapter 12

**As I say far too many times when I give you updates: AT LONG LAST! Sorry it's so short. But I couldn't stand to make you wait long enough for me to make it longer.**

Chapter 12

"Watch and wait?" Yumi screamed, slamming her hands on the table, "What's wrong with all of you? Ulrich's injured, we've got the Men in Black hunting us, Antea's disappeared to who knows where, Aelita's having dreams, _XANA is alive again_, and you're saying we should just watch and wait?"

This was not at all what Yumi had expected when Jeremie said he would tell her their "plan." She was just about ready to stab him with a fork.

"What else can we do, Yumi?" asked Jeremie.

"Oh, I don't know," said Yumi sarcastically, "Fix the Return to the Past program? Look for Antea maybe?"

"We don't know where she is," said Aelita, "There's no way to. All we know is that she's somewhere on Lyoko, but XANA's keeping her hidden. She won't register on any maps. All XANA's letting us see is a number in the list of life forms on Lyoko. We've tried to get past all the firewalls, but we haven't made any progress."

"Well, try harder!" Yumi snapped, "I would have thought you'd be doing that right now! She's your own mother, Aelita!"

"At least I know she's alive!" Aelita yelled back.

The only sound now was the chattering of other students in the cafeteria. But it was drowned out by the silence among the four of them. Aelita had raised her voice before, but it was never like this. All the other times didn't feel this way. They would be in the heat of battle, or a cry for help, or a warning to run. At the very least, it would be at Odd. But this was different. It was never out of anger, genuine anger, the kind that hid pain behind it.

"But you think that's not enough?" Aelita asked, only lowering her volume enough to keep the rest of the school from hearing her, "We don't know what XANA wants from us, but we know that he's making sure she's alive and well so he can trade her for it! You think we should provoke XANA, give him a reason to endanger her? He's keeping her safe! But that's not enough for you, is it?"

Yumi stared at the table in shame. "I hadn't thought about-"

"What about Ulrich?" Aelita asked coldly, "You've thought about him, haven't you? You must think he's in danger on Lyoko, so why haven't you decided to send him back to the hospital?"

Yumi looked up. "Because it'd be easier for him to get hurt."

"Exactly," said Aelita, "You know you'd be risking his life even more than we are now. If you're not willing to do that to him, then why are you willing to do it to my mother?"

Aelita's eyes were now shining with hot tears that she refused to let fall. Yumi reached for her shoulder. "Aelita, I'm-"

"Don't touch me," Aelita scowled. Yumi had thought _she_ would be the one storming out of the cafeteria at the end of this conversation. But she was wrong. There was Aelita, running away. And within the next few minutes she'd be sitting by the gate. All alone. Crying.

"Happy now?" Odd rebuked, not even looking at Yumi.

Yumi couldn't really look at either of the two that were left, either. Especially because of what she was about to say. She knew it sounded so cold after what had just happened. She felt very hesitant to say it, but she hadn't yet gotten a definite response. Even if it wasn't exactly a question, it still raised a question that needed an answer.

"I still think we should do something."

Odd looked up to see if Jeremie was as furious as he was. He calmed down when he saw that he wasn't- Jeremie had a look of understanding rather than disappointment.

"So do I," said Jeremie, "But this is one of those times where I don't have any ideas."

Yumi gave a stressful sigh. Odd worked best under pressure. Jeremie, however, was an entirely different story, especially when he'd re-entered the world of not sleeping. "I was working on the Return to the Past for 5 hours this morning," he said.

"And?" Yumi asked.

"Nothing."

Exhibit A.

"But I've been trying to think of what we're going to do once I get it working again," Jeremie continued, "I don't have a complete strategy yet, but it'll have to be before Ulrich gets hurt and before the Men in Black find Aelita. Something that'll get them out of the picture so that all we have to worry about is getting rid of XANA."

Yumi paused in thought. She didn't know quite as much about the way all the different programs worked as Jeremie or Aelita did. The Return to the Past program was especially vague to her. But she knew XANA. She knew how he thought things through, how all his schemes would come together. And XANA had a fairly decent knowledge of them, and how their intellects worked. Being a computer program, he couldn't quite deduce an emotional response, but he had enough experience with them to make an assumption: they'd try to save Antea. And so, in order to get whatever it was he wanted from them, he had to be the only one who knew where Antea was. He'd hide her in a place he was certain they could never get to. Now most of this was nothing new to anyone. But there was one thing they hadn't considered. And Yumi wasn't sure whether this was how it worked or not, but what if it was like what had happened with Aelita back when she was still bound to Lyoko? What if XANA was hiding a fragment of the Return to the Past program somewhere on Lyoko? And if that was true, wouldn't it make sense that it would be in the same place as Antea?

Only Jeremie could really clarify whether or not any of this was plausible. But Yumi had a feeling that this was exactly what they needed to win this battle. She smiled.

"I have a theory."

* * *

"_She's your own mother, Aelita!"_

Yumi was right… They couldn't just sit there and do nothing while Antea was in XANA's clutches. And the more Aelita thought about it, the more sense it made that finding her would be worth the risk. She was her own mother…

Aelita dropped into Carthage, refusing to let this go on any longer.

"I'm coming to save you."

**It's ten minutes to midnight right now. I outdid myself promising the people on the Code Wiki Forum a new chapter by today. I have also entered the world of not sleeping XD Thank you for your patience, faithful reader. I think now I've come to a time where I give you lots of updates in a row again. Yay!**


	13. Chapter 13

**And voila – chapter 13! I've been going through an uncreative streak for quite some time now. I mean, I've had some oneshots here and there, but with my longer stories, it's been pretty bleh. But I sat down and forced myself to write, and here is the result. It seems to have cured me... Once I come up with the beginning of a scene, the rest comes easy. Hopefully you'll see my other stories revived soon, too – it's becoming more of a time issue rather than writer's block. Or both – I don't have time to sit at my computer long enough to come up with anything. Eh. Spring break's coming up. Though I may be away looking at colleges... I dunno. We'll see. But for now, here's something to tide you over. :)**

Chapter 13

"Where are you?" Aelita cried out as she ran across the blue blocks and platforms, "Where _are_ you?"

But of course, no one answered. Aelita may as well be alone out here. But she wasn't. She couldn't be. Her mother was here. Somewhere... She was here. Maybe she could hear Aelita calling to her. She simply couldn't answer back. Aelita had searched nearly every nook and cranny of this place. And no sign of her mother. But even then, she had to be here. Otherwise all this would be for nothing. Aelita would be alone again... That couldn't be true. So that meant she had to be here... She had to be. Hidden away, some place that only XANA knew. Maybe there was a code behind it. But if there was, Aelita had no idea how to break it. As of yet, there was only one way to find out. And she knew exactly what it was. The question: Was it worth it? Consulting XANA, finding out what he wanted? And if Aelita gave it to him, would he still free her mother?

Aelita's fists clenched as she looked up into the abyss above her. She would have thought that if XANA had to hide anything, it would be there. But no. Nothing was up there. And so Aelita was sure that her mother was somewhere no one could find her. Not without giving XANA what he wanted...

Aelita wasn't completely oblivious. She knew this was a trap. But the thing was, XANA had trapped them before. He'd pushed them so far into corners that they really though there was no way out. She knew it more than anyone... She almost died. She _did_ die. And even then, they still managed to win in the end. If they could avert her death and Lyoko's destruction, then surely they could stop whatever XANA was planning this time. It was like Jeremie said... Not once were the odds so critically against them that they couldn't endure it. So why would this be any different?

Aelita took a deep breath. She didn't have much of a choice, did she? A voice inside of her told her that she did have a choice, and that this couldn't possibly end well. But there was no evidence as to whether this was the voice of reason or of fear. She wanted to ignore it, but she couldn't help but wonder... What if it didn't work? What if XANA was going to kill her mother as soon as he got what he wanted? And what if he was just playing her, and all this was meant to distract them from something even bigger?

There was only one way to find out.

She had to try.

"I know you can hear me," Aelita projected, "Now tell me why you're doing this."

There was a pause. Aelita knew XANA had a voice. He'd always find some way to speak to them... So why wouldn't he now?

"There must be some reason you're keeping her alive!" Aelita called out, "What do you want?"

Anger boiled up inside of Aelita when she was met with silence. XANA was waiting for something, clearly.

"Alright!" Aelita blurted out, "I'll give you whatever you want! Just give her back to me!"

Two words were given to Aelita in return. It was similar to the way Jeremie's voice would just ring out from nowhere... But this time, Aelita knew it was XANA talking.

"_You're bluffing."_

She knew that wouldn't work. But still, she'd gotten him talking.

"Well," Aelita scoffed, "If you'd just tell me what you wanted, I'm sure we'd come to some sort of agreement."

"_Whatever happens,"_ XANA crooned, _"Antea will be safe."_

"And no one gets hurt?" Aelita asked.

"_You have my word," _XANA promised.

"And how am I supposed to believe that?" Aelita demanded, almost laughing at such an idea, with no doubt that XANA was giving himself some sort of loophole.

"_That's your choice," _said XANA.

"Well, first, tell me what I'm expected to give you."

"_Actually,"_ XANA responded, the tone of his voice making Aelita worry, _"Until you agree to cooperate, you're not leaving."_

Aelita let out a quick, mocking laugh, no longer intimidated in the least. "How's that going to work?" she asked, "I can't devirtualize myself? You're going to have to do better than that."

"_Oh can't you?"_ XANA asked slyly, so much that it was starting to give Aelita second thoughts. He'd bugged the devirtualization program was the best thing she could think of. As frightened as she was, though, Aelita was sure that soon Jeremie would find her here and fix the bug. The only question was how soon. There was no telling what could happen between now and then... If that was even what XANA meant.

"What have you done?" Aelita asked, trying to hide the waver in her voice.

"_Nothing... Not yet."_

"Explain."

"_If you so much as lift your arm to fire at yourself as a means of leaving, the guardian holding your mother will dissipate, and she will fall into the Digital Sea to remain there in my realm forever."_

* * *

Yumi and Odd watched intently as Jeremie typed on his computer at 95 miles per hour. Yumi smiled – just like old times, leaving the cafeteria to go up to Jeremie's dorm and work on some Lyoko thing. They were back in the habit again.

"Anything?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie typed a few more keys, then stopped. He paused, then turned around in his chair to face Yumi and Odd.

"I smell speech," said Odd, for this was always what Jeremie would do before a long explanation or anything along those lines.

Jeremie nodded. "I can't do anything until I hear what you guys think."

"Well, we're listening," said Yumi, "What is it?"

Jeremie sighed. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to wait for Aelita."

Yumi felt a pang of guilt. She owed her friend quite the apology once she turned up.

"And Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"This concerns him, too," said Jeremie, pointing to the computer, "He can hear everything we're saying, but he hasn't figured out how to reach us from Lyoko. I can only have a back and forth conversation through the supercomputer."

"That's all we need," said Odd, "I get the feeling we'll be going there soon anyway, so he can tell us then."

Jeremie took a deep breath. "Okay... I have a plan in my head for what we'll do once we can go back in time again. And now I think I have a way to get the program working. But there's one thing we need to take into account before we do this... We know XANA. We know how tricky he can be. This could be another one of his schemes."

"We know that," Yumi put in.

"I didn't mean just losing the program," said Jeremie, "I meant the fact that I know how to find it. Whenever we think it's too easy, that usually means something. For all we know, XANA may want us to find that fragment. So the question remains... Are we willing to take that risk?"

Yumi and Odd looked at each other, then at the ground.

"Well?" Jeremie asked after a moment of silence.

"I think..." Yumi pondered, unsure of how to put it into words, "I think we have enough at stake as it is."

"Meaning?" Jeremie asked.

"Meaning at this point," Odd finished, "It's all or nothing."

Yumi nodded. "If we fail, we could lose everything. But the same thing could happen if we don't try. Better to take a chance while we can than to wait for everything to take care of itself."

"So now that the two of us have come to an agreement," said Odd, "Are _you_ sure about this?"

Jeremie paused. He turned and faced his computer, resting his head in one hand and tapping his desk with the other. He sat there motionless for quite some time before he spoke:

"I'm not sure of anything, really. But if you guys think it's best to go for it, then I'm willing to."

"Then it's settled?" Odd asked.

Jeremie lifted his head and turned and faced them.

"I'll be in here working on locating the fragment. When the time comes, I'll give you the signal."

**I foresee much fun-ness... For me anyway. Just being able to write "Transfer, Scanner, Virtualization!" feels _awesome_. Any signature Lyoko line does. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I can't tell you how satisfying it is to see something like that typed out in your Word document...**


End file.
